.K'.mv.i^rniiiKO^mi 


earsm 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


GIFT  OF 
Col.  Arnold  V.  Shutter 


SEVEN     YEARS     IN     VIENNA 


SEVEN     YEARS 
VIENNA 

{August,   \(^o-i— August,    1 9 14) 
A    RECORD    OF  INTRIGUE 


BOSTON   AND   NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON    MIFFLIN   COMPANY 

1917 


Printed  in  Great  Briinin. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   I. 

PAGE 

KING  EDWARD  AT  ISCHL — THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS  I 

CHAPTER    n. 

THE    emperor's     ILLNESS II 

CHAPTER   ni. 

ARCHDUKE    FRANCIS     FERDINAND iS 

CHAPTER   IV. 

COUNTESS    CHOTEK      27 

CHAPTER  V. 

VIENNA  37 

CHAPTER  VI. 

SALONICA 44 

CHAPTER  VII. 

KAISER    WILHELM    IN    VIENNA 53 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PAGE 

AFFAIRS    IN   TURKEY 6l 

CHAPTER   IX. 

THE    ANNEXATION 67 

CHAPTER  X. 

PRINCE    EGON    FURSTENBERG    AND    COUNT    TCHIRSKY  : 

HOW  THE  KAISER   "  WORKED  "   VIENNA         ...  76 

\ 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   "GREAT  SERVIA  "  IDEA — SERVIAN  ORGANISATION         84 

CHAPTER  XII. 

ALBANIA    AND    MACEDONIA 92 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE    BALKAN    WAR lOI 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

KING    FERDINAND     OF    BULGARIA,     THE    VAINEST    MAN 

IN    EUROPE Ill 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE    PRINCE    OF     WIED I20 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE    KING    OF    THE    BLACK    MOUNTAINS 1 32 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

FAGK 

EMIGRATION    PROMOTED    BY    GERMANY SOCIAL    QUES- 
TIONS   IN   THE   DUAL   MONARCHY 1 39 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  AGRARIANS  AND  THE  SHORTAGE  OF  FOOD  .   ,   .   147 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

COUNT     LEOPOLD     BERCHTOLD     AND     COUNT     STEPAN 

TISZA,    THE    MEN    WHO    DECIDED    ON    WAR    .       .       .       157 

CHAPTER  XX. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY   AS   A   MILITARY  AND   NAVAL   POWER        171 

CHAPTER   XXI. 

ARCHDUKE  CARL  FRANCIS  JOSEPH iSo 

CHAPTER   XXII. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY    FACED   BY   REVOLUTION    OR    WAR 

THE     FINANCIAL     FACTOR 1 92 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE   AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN    CONSTITUTION         ....       203 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

WHO    MURDERED   THE    ARCHDUKE? 211 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

WHY   GERMANY    DECIDED    UPON    WAR 222 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

DIPLOMATIC    METHODS  :    A   COMPARISON 23 1 

CHAPTER   XXVI I. 

V^UNITIVE    EXPEDITION    OR    WORLD-WAR?       ....        244 

CHAPTER  XXVIIl. 

WHAT    WOULD    ENGLAND    SAY? 255 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

AUSTRIA'S    AWAKENING 263 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

From  Photographs  supplied  by  Newspaper  Illustrations,  Ltd. 

The  German  Emperor  and  the  Emperor  of 

Austria  driving  in  Vienna  in   1908      .        Frontispiece 

The  Archduke   Francis   Ferdinand    .     .      facing  page     24 

The  Duchess  Hohenberg „  24 

Baron  Aehrenthal        „  46 

Prince  Max  Egon  Fiirstenberg     ...               „  78 

King  Ferdinand  of  Bulgaria    ....              „  114 

King  Nikita  of  Montenegro     ....              „  114 

The  Prince  of  Wied ,,  126 

Count  Berchtold ,,  168 

Count  Tisza ,  168 

Archduke  Carl  Francis  Joseph     ...              ,,  184 

Princess  Zita  of  Parma „  184 


SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 
CHAPTER  I 

KING    EDWARD   AT    ISCHL — THE    PARTING    OF    THE 
WAYS 

It  was  mid-August  in  1907.  King  Edward  of 
England,  who  had  been  undergoing  a  "  cure  " 
at  Marienbad,  was  expected  at  Ischl,  where  the 
Austrian  Court  was  in  residence.  The  whole 
place  was  hung  with  flags  that  were  put  up  at 
the  last  moment,  as  the  "  Gem  of  the  Salzkam- 
mergut,"  as  Ischl  is  often  called,  is  one  of  the 
wettest  spots  in  the  country.  The  local  trains 
brought  large  numbers  of  peasants,  in  their 
picturesque  costume,  who  wanted  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  opportunity  of  seeing  the  King  of 
England.  Other  "  peasants,"  in  badly-fitting 
costumes,  also  came  down  in  the  Vienna  night 
express.  Their  white  knees,  left  bare  beneath 
the  short  leather  breeches,  plainly  showed  that 

B 


2  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

they  were  not  accustomed  to  wearing  the 
Styrian  costume.  The  peasant  girls  eyed  them 
dubiously;  one  suggested  that  a  little  walnut- 
juice  would  improve  matters,  while  their  little 
brothers  whispered  "  police."  The  real  peasants 
crowded  around  the  station,  and  watched  the 
red  carpet  being  laid,  ready  for  royalty.  They 
then  turned  to  see  Emperor  Francis  Joseph 
drive  up  to  the  gates.  He  arrived  twenty 
minutes  before  the  train  was  expected,  as 
usual,  for  being  a  great  stickler  for  etiquette  he 
always  feared  that  some  accident  or  contretemps 
might  delay  him,  and  the  visitor  reach  the 
station  before  the  host.  He  dreaded  nothing  so 
much  as  a  breach  of  etiquette  or  good  manners, 
and  was  willing  to  take  any  trouble  to  avoid 
even  the  possibility  of  such  a  thing.  The  train 
from  Marienbad  steamed  into  the  station,  the 
monarchs  embraced;  their  intercourse  had 
always  been  most  cordial.  The  King  respected 
the  simple  old  man,  who  had  until  then  guided 
the  destinies  of  his  country  with  great  astute- 
ness; while  the  Emperor  of  Austria  esteemed 
the  statesman,  for  in  Austria-Hungary  and  the 
Balkans  King  Edward  was  reckoned  as  the 
most  skilful  diplomatist  of  his  time.  As  the 
Imperial  carriage,  with  the  gilt  wheels,  drove 
through  the  streets,  the  people  cheered  heartily. 


THE    PARTING    OF   THE    WAYS  3 

King  Edward  was  the  most  popular  of  foreign 
monarchs  in  Austria,  and  the  minimum  of  pre- 
cautions were  taken  for  his  safety.  In  spite  of 
this  the  Austrian  police,  ever  watchful,  took 
stock  of  every  fresh  arrival  in  the  place  for  days 
before  the  King  appeared.  On  the  morning  of 
the  visit  they  ascertained  what  persons  would 
be  seated  in  windows  commanding  the  line  of 
route,  and  carefully  watched  the  houses  that 
might  harbour  anarchist  or  other  assassins.  The 
uninitiated  suspected  nothing  of  all  this.  The 
long  line  of  firemen  that  lined  the  streets  looked 
like  members  of  the  local  brigade.  It  was  not 
suspected  that  they  were  specially  trained  men, 
who  knew  how  to  act  and  to  co-operate  at  the 
right  moment  with  the  "  peasants,"  also  mem- 
bers of  the  same  highly-organised  force.  They 
all  stood  apparently  careless  and  inattentive. 
Presently  a  carriage,  in  which  a  spare,  tall, 
pock-marked  man  was  seated,  drove  through 
the  street.  He  was  the  Emperor's  private  detec- 
tive. His  appearance  always  heralded  that  of 
the  monarchs,  and  the  firemen  braced  them- 
selves for  a  combined  movement,  either  to  the 
right  or  left,  forwards  or  backwards,  as  pre- 
viously arranged.  The  police  behind  helped 
with  the  work,  and  just  as  the  Imperial  carriage 
flashed  by,  everyone  in  the  crowd  pushed  for- 

B    2 


4  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

ward,  sideways,  or  backwards,  as  though  by 
accident.  Any  intending  assassin  would  have 
lost  his  place  at  the  front,  and  have  missed 
the  golden  opportunity,  through  this  clever 
manoeuvre  of  the  police.  These  precautions 
were  always  taken  for  every  Royal  visitor,  for 
although  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  himself  was 
accustomed  to  stroll  about  the  Ischl  woods, 
and  went  hunting  in  the  forests  quite 
unattended,  he  took  care  that  his  guests  were 
exposed  to  no  risks. 

Everything  went  off  as  arranged,  although 
there  was  a  strained  feeling  in  the  air,  partly 
due  to  the  thundery  weather.  It  was  known, 
too,  that  King  Edward  was  on  a  diplomatic 
tour  throughout  Europe,  and  the  people  knew 
that  meetings  of  monarchs  in  summer  are  often 
of  great  importance,  even  when  they  are  unac- 
companied by  their  Ministers.  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph  is  practically  a  despotic  monarch,  for 
the  Austro-Hungarian  Constitution  exists 
merely  on  paper.  He  alone  decides  the  foreign 
policy  of  the  country,  and  determines  whether 
there  shall  be  peace  or  war.  Thus  he  is  in  a 
position  to  make  decisions  for  his  country,  with- 
out consulting  his  Ministers.  Austria-Hungary 
had  long  been  quiet,  almost  to  the  point  of  stag- 
nation.   Her  statesmen  had  been  fully  occupied 


THE   PARTING   OF   THE   WAYS  5 

in  paying  off  the  burdens  incurred  during  the 
last  war,  and  were  now  delighted  that,  after  a 
succession  of  deficits,  they  could  at  length  turn 
out  Budgets  with  surpluses  at  the  end  of  the 
financial  year. 

There  was  trouble  with  Servia,  it  is  true, 
Austrian  machinations  had  deprived  Servia  of 
an  outlet  to  the  sea.  Servia,  being  a  pastoral 
and  agricultural  country,  wished  to  sell  her  pro- 
ducts, and  Austria,  the  natural  market,  was 
closed  to  her. 

The  Austrians,  who  were  very  short  of  meat, 
promised  to  take  over  Servian  meat,  but  the 
Hungarian  agrarians,  or  large  land-owners,  who 
wanted  to  keep  up  the  prices  of  their  own 
products,  managed  to  prevent  this.  They 
appointed  veterinary  surgeons  to  examine  im- 
ported meat;  and  by  unjustly  condemning  the 
Servian  meat  at  the  frontier,  they  succeeded  in 
preventing  its  import.  This  line  of  conduct 
caused  much  greater  discontent  among  the 
Servs  than  a  downright  refusal  to  admit  their 
products  would  have  done.  They  naturally 
objected  to  being  cheated  by  their  powerful  and 
unscrupulous  neighbours,  and  the  friction 
caused  by  the  "  Servian  Pig  "  question  was  con- 
tinual. Otherwise  the  Balkans  were  strangely, 
almost  uncannily,  quiet.     There  were  no  mas- 


6  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

sacres  to  report,  no  bands  who  roamed  the 
country  and  committed  depredations.  It  seemed 
that  the  two  monarchs  could  have  nothing  to 
discuss.  As  the  Emperor  brought  the  King 
back  to  the  Hotel  Elisabeth  in  the  afternoon, 
the  faces  of  both  monarchs  could  be  seen  very 
plainly  in  the  blaze  of  the  sun  that  was  pouring 
down  with  great  fierceness.  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph  looked  much  older  than  he  had  done 
that  morning.  His  face  was  drawn,  the  fine 
lines  on  the  parchment-like  skin  were  deepened. 
It  did  not  need  any  unusual  acuteness  to  see 
that  something  had  gone  wrong.  King  Edward 
walked  up  to  his  suite  of  rooms  with  something 
weary  in  his  step.  The  Emperor,  freed  from 
the  restraint  of  the  King's  presence,  returned  to 
the  Imperial  villa,  his  slight  frame  shrunken  to 
half  its  usual  size,  his  soldierly  bearing  gone. 

All  Ischl  went  home  to  dress  for  the  gala  per- 
formance at  the  tiny  Court  theatre.  It  was 
always  difficult  to  get  tickets  at  the  bijou  theatre 
when  members  of  the  Imperial  family  were  ex- 
pected; on  the  night  of  King  Edward's  visit  it 
was  impossible  to  obtain  them.  The  police 
excluded  all  foreigners  by  careful  manipulation. 
By  evening  it  was  already  known  in  Ischl  that 
the  Emperor  and  the  King  had  quarrelled  vio- 
lently.   Attendants,  posted  behind  doors,  ready 


THE   PARTING   OF   THE   WAYS  7 

to  spring  to  attention,  overhear  many  things. 
They  could  give  no  details  of  what  the  subject 
under  discussion  had  been,  but  they  said  that 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph  had  lost  his  temper  in 
the  presence  of  a  foreign  King,  and  although 
outbursts  of  this  kind  were  common  enough 
within  the  family,  it  was  an  unprecedented  thing 
in  the  presence  of  a  stranger.  They  knew  that 
the  occasion  had  been  no  ordinary  one,  and  that 
the  future  policy  of  the  country  had  been  under 
consideration. 

Just  as  the  curtain  went  up  for  the  perform- 
ance of  some  light  musical  comedy,  the  sort  of 
play  that  is  at  its  very  best  in  Vienna,  the 
thunderstorm  that  had  been  threatening  all  day 
long,  broke  outside.  The  rain  rattled  down  on 
the  roof  of  the  theatre.  The  real  heroine  of  the 
piece,  who  had  been  brought  down  from  the 
capital  on  purpose,  was  a  dazzlingly  beautiful 
woman ;  she  laughed,  danced,  and  pirouetted  all 
over  the  stage.  She  was  the  very  embodiment 
of  Vienna  "  cheek."  Just  at  the  end  of  the  first 
act — royalty  never  sees  a  piece  through  when 
on  State  visits — she  abruptly  turned  her  back 
towards  the  Imperial  box.  She  was  lightly  clad, 
even  for  the  Austrian  stage,  as  she  tripped 
laughingly  to  the  front,  and  carried  out  her 
instructions.  A  thrill  went  through  the  audience. 


8  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

Would  the  King  understand?  His  British 
phlegm  stood  him  in  good  stead.  He  remained 
in  his  seat,  although  he  was  sufficiently 
acquainted  with  Austrian  manners  and  customs 
to  comprehend  the  somewhat  heavy  witticism. 
Only  when  the  curtain  fell  did  he  rise  and  leave 
the  theatre.  "  What  was  the  meaning  of  the 
insult?"  asked  all  Ischl.  "What  did  it 
portend?"  They  learnt  the  answer  just 
seven  years  later  to  the  very  day. 

The  people  about  the  palace  discussed  the 
incident  at  the  theatre.  They  understood  that 
it  was  meant  as  a  hint  to  the  King  that  his 
presence  in  Austria  was  not  desired,  if  he  came 
to  discuss  politics.  As  a  private  friend  and  a 
brother  monarch  he  was  always  welcome.  He 
had  attempted  to  show  the  Emperor  that  the 
close  alliance  with  Germany  was  not  for  the  good 
of  Europe.  Not  merely  that,  but  Austria-Hun- 
gary herself  would  imperil  her  existence  as  a 
great  Power  if  she  allowed  herself  to  become 
merged  in  Germany.  The  aged  Emperor,  who 
had  long  been  accustomed  to  depend  upon 
Germany  for  assistance  against  the  Slavs,  would 
not  listen  to  the  King.  He  was  perhaps  aware 
that  his  policy  was  wrong,  but  being  obstinate, 
like  all  the  Habsburgs,  he  would  not  acknow- 
ledge it.     He  did  not  intend  to  alter  his  policy 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE   WAYS  9 

at  the  eleventh  hour,  in  any  case.  If  there  must 
be  a  change  let  his  successor  see  to  it.  King 
Edward  made  due  allowance  for  the  Emperor's 
age,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  ever 
again  made  any  direct  effort  to  turn  Austria 
from  her  fatal  path.  She  stood  at  the 
parting  of  the  ways.  Her  Emperor 
chose  her  destiny  that  summer  day  in  Ischl. 
Diplomatists  and  Ambassadors  took  up  the 
King's  task;  they  repeatedly  pointed  out  the 
disastrous  consequences  of  the  close  alliance 
with  Germany.  Instead  of  discussing  the 
situation  with  Italy,  Austria-Hungary  informed 
Germany  of  what  was  happening.  Instead 
of  keeping  the  balance  equal  between 
Italy  and  Germany,  Austria-Hungary  really 
concluded  a  partnership  with  Germany;  the 
Triple  Alliance  degenerated  into  a  '  Dual 
Alliance  that  kept  up  an  understanding  with 
the  third  partner.  Italy  was  quick  to  realise 
this.  So  long  as  Russia  and  France  were  allied, 
and  occupied  a  position  that  was  a  set-off  to  that 
held  by  Germany  and  an  Austria  that  had  not 
given  up  her  liberty  of  action,  European  peace 
was  assured.  Great  Britain  and  Italy  were  not 
bound  to  their  Allies  to  any  great  extent. 

The  result  of  the  meeting  at  Ischl  soon  made 
itself  felt.     Italian  diplomatists  began  to  back 


10  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

out  of  their  obligations  towards  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary.  Their  policy  of  "  cooling 
down,"  at  first  barely  perceptible,  took  iorm 
somewhat  later,  at  the  renewal  of  the  Triple 
Alliance,  when  Italy  promised  very  little  in 
return  for  the  many  "  benefits  "  heaped  upon  her 
by  Germany.  Great  Britain,  aware  of  the 
danger  of  the  centre  of  the  European  chess- 
board being  occupied  by  one  vast  State,  stretch- 
ing from  the  North  Sea  and  Baltic  to  the 
Adriatic,  was  more  inclined  to  listen  to 
advances  from  France  and  Russia,  and  to 
deliberate  upon  the  advantages  of  a  closer  con- 
tact with  Germany's  enemies.  The  suggestion 
made  by  France,  that  Great  Britain  should 
introduce  conscription,  prevented  the  under- 
standing becoming  anything  more.  France 
pointed  out  the  necessity  of  preparing  for  an 
aggressive  move  on  the  part  of  Germany,  but 
Great  Britain  would  not  even  consider  a  propo- 
sition so  far  from  her  theories  of  government  as 
was  conscription. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  EMPEROR  S  ILLNESS 


The  Austrian  Court  returned  to  Vienna  as 
soon  as  the  first  snows  on  the  mountains 
round  Ischl  gave  warning  that  the  summer 
season  was  at  an  end.  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph,  who  is  a  strenuous  worker,  and  carries 
on  the  business  of  State  daily,  whether  in 
residence  in  Vienna  or  in  the  country,  began 
his  life  as  usual.  On  certain  days  of  the  week 
he  held  general  audiences,  and  received  any- 
one, high  or  low,  aristocrat  or  peasant,  who 
wished  to  present  a  petition.  He  was  always 
up  at  4  a.m.,  and  had  got  through  most  of  his 
State  duties  by  8  a.m.,  when  he  began  to  receive 
Ministers  and  others.  In  the  month  of  October 
it  was  suddenly  announced  that  the  Emperor 
was  ill.  The  news  caused  great  consternation, 
as  the  monarch  had  never  been  ill  in  his  life. 
He  had  been  confined  to  his  room  for  some 


12  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

time  as  a  young  man  after  an  attempt  made  on 
his  life,  when  he  was  stabbed  in  the  neck, 
but  he  had  never  had  the  slightest  ailment 
since.  His  life  was  carefully  regulated  by  the 
Court  physician,  Doctor  Kerzl,  a  military 
surgeon,  a  rough  doctor  of  the  old  school, 
who  had  grown  old  with  the  Emperor. 
Members  of  the  Imperial  family  frequently  tried 
to  have  a  younger  and  more  up-to-date  man 
appointed  as  Court  physician.  They  con- 
sidered that  the  Emperor's  health  was  so 
precious  that  its  care  ought  not  to  be  confided 
to  a  man  who  had  gained  his  experience  with 
the  Army.  The  Emperor,  however,  stood  firm, 
and  the  results  of  the  somewhat  draconic 
treatment  have  certainly  justified  his  decision. 
The  Emperor  sleeps  on  a  camp-bed,  eats  the 
heavy  Vienna  food  with  relish,  and  is  always 
accustomed  to  drive  in  an  open  carriage  with- 
out his  military  cloak.  It  is  probable  that  he 
took  the  chill  during  the  drive. 

Specialists  were  summoned  to  the  Emperor's 
bedside,  and  they  found  that  the  Royal  patient 
was  suffering  from  inflammation  of  the  lungs. 
He,  however,  refused  to  go  to  bed.  Crowds 
of  people  went  out  to  the  summer  palace  of 
Schonbrunn,  where  he  was  staying,  and  waited 
under  his  window  until  he  appeared  to  reassure 


THE   EMPERORS   ILLNESS  13 

them,  when  cheers  rang  out  and  echoed  along 
the  arched  corridors  beneath  the  palace.  The 
anxiety  felt  by  the  common  people  was  shared 
by  everyone  in  Austria-Hungary,  and  the  one 
hope  of  high  and  low  was  that  the  Emperor 
might  live.  This  was  not  so  much  on  account 
of  his  personal  popularity,  although  this  was 
great,  as  because  of  the  dread  of  the  future. 
The  heir  to  the  throne,  Archduke  Francis 
Ferdinand,  was  the  most  hated  man  in  Austria- 
Hungary.  The  Emperor's  death  meant  that 
he  would  succeed  to  the  throne.  The  Emperor 
himself  felt  a  profound  hatred  for  his  heir,  and 
it  was  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  he 
was  filled  with  a  firm  determination  not  only 
to  recover  from  his  illness,  but  to  outlive  his 
heir.  Day  after  day  the  struggle  went  on  within 
the  white  walls  of  Schonbrunn  Palace;  the 
daily  papers  spoke  of  the  Emperor's  illness  as 
a  slight  cold,  for  the  monarch  was  not  satisfied 
with  reading  extracts  from  the  official  organs, 
as  was  his  ordinary  custom,  but  insisted  upon 
having  all  the  papers,  opposition  organs  as  well 
as  bounty-fed  periodicals,  brought  to  his  room. 
He  wished  to  find  out  whether  the  doctors  were 
telling  the  truth  about  his  illness.  The  three 
specialists  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he  could 
not  recover;  Doctor  Kerzl  alone  stood  firm  and 


14  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

said  that  he  would  get  well  again.  The 
Emperor  refused  to  take  to  his  bed,  having  a 
superstitious  horror  of  lying  down  in  the  day- 
time. Kerzl  supported  him  in  this,  and  it  is 
probable  that  he  owed  his  recovery  to  it.  The 
disputes  among  the  doctors  were  unseemly,  and 
the  specialists  insisted  on  calling  the  family  to 
Vienna.  Archduchess  Gisela,  the  Emperor's 
elder  daughter,  arrived  in  great  haste,  and  his 
younger  daughter,  Valerie,  also  appeared  on 
the  scene.  Both  women  are  very  pious,  and 
they  immediately  wished  the  Emperor  to  re- 
ceive Extreme  Unction.  The  Archbishop  of 
Vienna,  with  a  retinue  of  priests,  actually  came 
out  to  Schonbrunn  to  administer  it,  but  they 
were  met  downstairs  by  Frau  Catherina  Schraatt, 
who  told  them  that  it  would  frighten  him  to 
death,  and  induced  them  to  return  without 
carrying  out  their  mission.  Archduke  Francis 
Ferdinand  arrived  at  the  capital.  He  and  his 
morganatic  wife,  Duchess  Hohenberg,  estab- 
lished themselves  at  the  Belvedere  Palace  for 
the  season.  The  Archduke,  a  man  who  lacked 
refinement  and  who  was  utterly  devoid  of  tact, 
immediately  began  to  act  as  if  he  had  already 
succeeded  to  the  throne.  Statesmen,  fearing 
that  the  Emperor  would  never  recover,  were 
afraid  to  oppose  him,  and  he  got  an  insight 


THE    EMPEROR'S   ILLNESS  15 

into  affairs  of  State  during  the  Emperor's  ill- 
ness that  enabled  him  to  assume  a  position  that 
he  never  gave  up  afterwards.  The  Habsburgs 
were  obliged  to  look  on  while  Duchess  Hohen- 
berg,  then  merely  Countess  Chotek,  took  a 
position  that  would  never  have  been  conceded 
to  her  had  the  Emperor  been  in  his  usual  health. 
Kaiser  Wilhelm,  ever  watchful,  began  to  count 
on  the  possibility  of  the  Emperor's  death,  and 
the  friendship  between  him  and  the  Archduke 
dates  from  this  epoch.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  did 
not  like  the  heir  to  the  throne  of  Austria- 
Hungary;  he  recognised  the  fact  that  he  would 
have  to  deal  with  a  determined  man,  who  knew 
exactly  what  he  wanted  and  would  refuse  to 
believe  the  flattering  assurances  that  satisfied 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph,  who,  although  still 
in  full  command  of  his  mental  faculties,  was 
beginning  to  feel  the  weight  of  years.  The 
Emperor  was  never  so  acute  a  man  as  his  heir ; 
the  Archduke,  too,  had  a  wife  whose  intelli- 
gence was  remarkable.  Countess  Chotek  was 
ambitious,  and  her  husband  was  accustomed  to 
following  her  advice  in  State  affairs.  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  therefore  shared  the  wish  of  the 
Austrian  people,  that  the  aged  Emperor  might 
long  be  spared  to  them.  Week  after  week 
went    by.       People    from    all    parts    of    the 


16  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

monarchy  sent  the  Emperor  quaint  remedies, 
charms,  and  specifics  of  all  kinds  to  cure  his 
illness;  several  officials  were  engaged  all  day 
in  writing  to  thank  the  senders,  who  were  not 
even  aware  of  what  ailed  the  Emperor.  When 
it  was  finally  announced  that  he  was  out  of 
danger  there  was  great  jubilation  throughout 
the  realm;  the  people  poured  scorn  upon  the 
specialists,  and  acclaimed  Dr.  Kerzl  as  the 
saviour  of  the  country  whenever  they  could 
catch  sight  of  his  rough,  honest  face,  bronzed 
by  exposure  upon  many  a  battlefield.  The 
Emperor  had  given  his  attendants  great  trouble 
during  his  illness  and  convalescence,  as  he  had 
refused  to  allow  anyone  to  enter  his  rooms  ex- 
cept Dr.  Kerzl,  his  soldier-valet,  who  slept  upon 
a  rug  in  the  antechamber  of  his  bedroom,  and 
the  sentry,  who  always  paced  to  and  fro  out- 
side the  Emperor's  bedchamber,  and  watched 
through  a  spyhole,  cunningly  made  in  the  door, 
for  any  change.  No  woman  was  allowed  to 
enter  the  suite  of  rooms  during  the  night  hours, 
the  patient  saying  he  preferred  an  orderly  to 
nurse  him. 

Gradually  the  Emperor  recovered  his  powers. 
He  was  never  the  same  man  again;  his  vigour 
was  gone,  and,  although  he  was  little  changed 
in    appearance,    his    grasp    upon    affairs    had 


THE   EMPEROR'S   ILLNESS  17 

weakened.  The  Archduke,  who  disliked  Vienna 
cordially,  remained  in  town,  a  thorn  in  the 
Emperor's  side.  The  latter,  however,  could  find 
no  pretext  for  dismissing  him  to  the  country. 
Councillors,  already  anticipating  the  probable 
demise  of  the  reigning  monarch  at  no  distant 
date,  advised  the  Emperor  to  consult  with  his 
heir  and  to  try  to  inculcate  the  inexperienced 
man  with  some  of  his  statecraft.  The  Emperor 
was  induced  to  bestow  some  powers  upon  the 
Archduke,  although  much  against  his  will,  and 
a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  country  began. 


CHAPTER  III 

ARCHDUKE    FRANCIS    FERDINAND 

All  Europe  was  asking  one  and  the  same 
question  at  this  epoch  :  "  What  kind  of  a  man 
is  the  heir  to  the  throne  ? " 

They  got  the  answer  that  he  was  "a  little- 
known  man,"  and  this  was  true  to  a  certain 
extent.  The  Emperor,  an  old  autocrat,  never 
allowed  any  member  of  the  Imperial  family  to 
take  a  leading  part  in  public  affairs.  They 
were  expected  to  do  their  duty  in  opening 
charitable  institutions,  presiding  at  fetes  in 
provincial  cities,  but  in  both  Vienna  and  Buda- 
pesth  they  found  it  advisable  to  keep  well  in 
the  background.  Whenever  a  young  Archduke 
became  too  popular,  even  in  the  ballrooms  of 
Vienna,  he  was  promptly  banished  to  some  out- 
of-the-way  place,  ostensibly  on  a  mission,  but 
really  as  a  punishment  for  presuming  to  court 
popularity. 


ARCHDUKE   FRANCIS  FERDINAND     19 

This  was  well  understood  among  the  Habs- 
burgs,  who,  as  a  rule,  did  not  care  for  Court 
life.  Most  of  the  Archdukes  lived  on  their 
country  estates,  where  they  enjoyed  almost 
regal  power  for  nine  months  of  the  year,  merely 
coming  to  Court  to  pay  their  respects  to  the 
monarch  at  the  New  Year. 

Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  was  very  fond 
of  power  and  very  ambitious,  but  he  did  not  care 
for  playing  the  role  of  heir  to  the  throne  when 
he  had  reached  middle  age  and  was  at  the 
height  of  his  powers.  He  therefore  remained 
in  the  country  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year. 

This  did  not  increase  his  popularity.  People 
grumbled  at  the  sadness  that  hung  like  a  pall 
over  the  Court.  They  said  that  it  was  merely 
a  resort  for  military  men  and  officials,  and 
wished  that  young  life  could  be  introduced  to 
restore  Vienna  and  Budapesth  to  their  former 
gaiety.  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  had 
laboured  under  great  disadvantages  since 
sudden  and  unexpected  events  had  made  him 
heir  to  the  throne.  His  attendants  and  the 
Court  officials  summed  up  the  position  in  one 
sentence  :  "  He  has  never  been  trained  for  a 
throne."  He  was  entirely  lacking  in  tact — a 
quality  which,  if  not  a  natural  gift,  must  be 
acquired  by  painful  experience  by  personages 

C    2 


20  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

who  will  one  day  occupy  a  throne.  He  spoke 
no  languages  except  his  own.  He  had,  of 
course,  some  knowledge  of  French  and  Italian, 
and  was  learning  Hungarian;  but  he  was 
not  in  a  position  to  carry  on  delicate 
negotiations  in  French.  He  had  a  bad 
record  even  for  an  Austrian  Archduke.  His 
youthful  career  had  been  full  of  incident,  and 
his  doctors  had  been  compelled  to  put  a  sudden 
stop  to  a  course  of  youthful  dissipation  by 
sending  him  on  a  voyage  round  the  world. 
He  was  reported  to  be  suffering  from  consump- 
tion in  its  preliminary  stages,  and  it  was  said  his 
only  chance  of  life  was  a  complete  change  of 
climate.  The  Archduke,  who  was  an  artist  and 
well  acquainted  with  ancient  and  modern  cul- 
ture, started  off  on  the  Imperial  yacht  for  the 
East  with  nothing  but  pleasurable  feelings.  His 
favourite  study  was  ethnology,  and  he  made  a 
collection  of  objects  of  great  interest  during 
this  voyage.  They  were  to  be  seen  in  one  of  the 
galleries  of  the  Hofburg,  which  had  recently 
been  added  to  the  main  block  of  the  town  palace. 
The  Archduke  converted  the  new  part  into  a 
museum,  as  the  Emperor  had  forbidden  the 
architect  to  fit  the  new  building  with  lifts  or 
other  modern  appliances.  Lifts  he  hated,  and 
firmly  refused  to  enter  one  even  when  he  was 


ARCHDUKE   FRANCIS   FERDINAND     21 

having  his  portrait  painted  by  an  artist  whose 
studio  was  on  the  sixth  floor  of  a  Vienna  house. 

The  Archduke,  who  was  intensely  modern, 
decided  that  a  palace  without  lifts  and  proper 
heating  appliances  was  not  fit  to  live  in,  and 
promptly  converted  the  new  gallery  into  a  pic- 
ture gallery  and  museum  without  waiting  for 
the  Emperor's  advice  or  permission. 

The  aged  Emperor  and  his  heir  clashed  in 
every  direction ;  they  were  diametrically  op- 
posed in  all  their  tastes  and  convictions.  Both 
were  pious  to  an  exaggerated  degree.  The 
Emperor  disliked  the  Jesuits;  his  heir  con- 
sorted with  them  constantly,  and  listened  to 
their  advice  in  matters  of  State.  This  alone 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  prevent  the  Em- 
peror from  ever  wishing  him  to  succeed  to  the 
throne.  The  Archduke,  too,  although  so  pious, 
had  contrived  to  estrange  both  the  Church  and 
the  Emperor  by  one  act  of  boyish  folly.  As  a 
young  officer  he  was  stationed  at  a  depot  in 
the  depths  of  the  country  to  learn  his  profes- 
sion, far  from  critical  crowds.  One  day  he  was 
riding  across  the  fields,  when  some  peasants, 
carrying  the  mortal  remains  of  one  of  their 
fellows,  crossed  by  the  footpath.  The  Arch- 
duke, in  a  fit  of  youthful  exuberance,  set  his 
horse  at  the  bier  and  cleared  it  at  a  jump.    The 


22  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

priest  protested  at  the  act  of  sacrilege.  The 
story  reached  the  ears  of  the  Emperor,  who 
never  forgave  him.  Although  the  Archduke 
was  not  careful  of  the  feelings  of  the  Roman 
Catholics,  the  non-Catholics'  in  the  country 
believed  that  he  would  be  capable  of  perse- 
cuting them  with  a  rigour  such  as  had  been  un- 
known since  the  Middle  Ages.  At  the  time  of 
the  Emperor's  illness  the  Liberal  papers  pro- 
phesied in  their  leading  articles  that  he  would 
build  up  martyr  fires  around  the  Cathedral  of 
St.  Stefan,  in  the  centre  of  Vienna.  They  said 
he  would  show  the  utmost  relentlessness  in 
burning  or  hanging  his  Jewish,  Protestant,  and 
Mahommedan  subjects,  all  of  whom  were  accus- 
tomed to  a  wide  tolerance,  based  on  indifference 
to  them  and  their  doings.  The  Archduke  was 
bitterly  hated  in  Hungary;  it  was  commonly 
reported  that  his  life  was  not  safe  in  that  part 
of  his  future  kingdom.  He  gave  colour  to  these 
reports  by  his  strange  conduct.  When  he  went 
down  to  Budapesth  he  did  not  put  up  at  an 
hotel,  as  was  customary.  He  remained  all  night 
in  the  royal  train,  which  was  run  up  the  line  to  a 
siding,  no  one  being  aware  of  the  exact  spot 
at  which  it  had  drawn  up.  This  confession  of 
fear  and  lack  of  confidence  in  the  loyalty  of  his 
subjects  did  the  Archduke  great  harm.     The 


ARCHDUKE   FRANCIS   FERDINAND     23 

alternative  explanation,  sometimes  advanced, 
that  the  Archduke,  who  was  known  as  the 
meanest  man  in  the  kingdom,  merely  wished  to 
save  an  hotel  bill,  did  not  improve  matters. 
The  hotel-keepers  looked  upon  members  of  the 
Imperial  House  as  most  desirable  guests ;  they 
never  overcharged  them,  for  the  advertisement 
was  worth  a  great  deal  to  them.  Archdukes  who 
neither  commanded  a  palace  to  be  prepared  for 
their  coming  nor  put  up  at  an  hotel  were 
naturally  not  popular  with  anyone.  Archduke 
Francis  Ferdinand  crowned  all  his  other 
delinquencies  by  his  marriage.  Instead  of  con- 
tracting an  alliance  with  some  powerful  reign- 
ing house,  he  made  a  morganatic  marriage  with 
a  lady-in-waiting.  Countess  Chotek  was  a 
Bohemian  aristocrat,  it  is  true,  but  she  was  not 
a  peer  of  any  member  of  the  House  of  Habs- 
burg.  The  Emperor  allowed  the  marriage  to 
take  place,  and  when  all  the  circumstances  are 
taken  into  account,  especially  the  ease  with 
which  persons  whose  existence  was  disagree- 
able to  the  Vienna  Court  were  removed,  it  can 
only  be  concluded  that  the  Emperor  approved 
of  the  marriage.  He  evidently  did  not  wish  the 
children  of  the  Archduke  to  come  to  the  throne 
on  account  of  their  father's  tendency  to  tuber- 
culosis, which  was  reported  to  have  gone  to  the 


24  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

brain.  It  was  common  knowledge  that  the 
Archduke  was  accustomed  to  fly  into  fearful 
rages.  Whether  this  habit,  which  is  common 
to  all  the  Habsburgs,  was  owing  to  epilepsy,  or 
some  obscure  brain  disease,  it  is  difficult  to  say ; 
but  the  Emperor  evidently  shared  the  common 
feeling  that  it  was  some  obscure  affection  of  the 
brain,  and  shared  the  doctors'  opinion  that  the 
Archduke's  descendants  ought  not  to  come  to 
the  throne  of  Austria-Hungary. 

Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand,  who  was 
always  short  of  money,  tried  to  engage  in  busi- 
ness, and,  as  usually  happens  with  men  of  his 
position,  made  a  sad  failure  of  it.  Instead  of 
leaving  the  management  of  his  estates  to 
stewards,  who  would  only  take  their  customary 
perquisites,  he  engaged  in  business  transactions 
himself.  He  was  badly  swindled,  and  gained  a 
reputation  for  meanness  which  was  richly 
deserved.  His  varied  excursions  into  the 
realms  of  speculative  business  w^ere  attended 
by  no  better  luck.  He  dared  not  associate  him- 
self with  eminent  business  men,  so  he  sum- 
moned a  number  of  companions  to  his  side  who 
were  difficult  to  shake  off.  With  them  he  em- 
barked upon  business  of  an  illegitimate  kind. 
His  only  excuse  was  his  complete  lack  of  under- 
standing of  all  matters  relating  to  business. 


H 


Z      Q 


O      CE 

X  < 


I    5 


H 


ARCHDUKE   FRANCIS   FERDINAND     25 

Neither  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  nor 
his  morganatic  wife  had  the  tact  or  sense  to  hide 
the  impatience  with  which  they  awaited  the  aged 
Emperor's  death.  The  "parrot"  story,  as  it 
was  called,  went  the  round  of  the  Vienna  cafes 
at  this  period.  A  bird  of  very  rare  plumage, 
evidently  the  property  of  some  aristocratic  per- 
sonage, was  found  straying  in  the  public  gardens 
of  Vienna.  A  gardener  promptly  caught  it  and 
took  it  round  to  the  police,  where  lost  property 
of  all  kinds  was  deposited,  until  its  owner  could 
be  found.  The  sergeant  in  charge  put  the  bird 
in  a  cage  and  forgot  all  about  it.  Shortly  after- 
wards he  was  startled  to  hear  the  parrot  begin 
to  discourse  with  great  fluency  when  it  had 
become  used  to  its  surroundings.  It  referred  to 
various  members  of  the  Imperial  family  in 
terms  of  the  very  scantiest  respect.  "  That 
old  cat  Valerie"  was  its  delicate  way  of  refer- 
ring to  the  Emperor's  younger  and  favourite 
daughter.  "  Peacocks,  sluts "  were  terms  of 
abuse  applied  to  Archduchesses  who  either 
overdressed  or  neglected  their  toilettes.  The 
sergeant  became  pale  with  fright  It  was  lese- 
majeste  to  listen  to  such  words,  and  the  penalty 
might  be  death.  When  the  parrot  broke  into 
a  steady  stream  of  talk,  with  a  kind  of  refrain, 
"  He'll  live  to  be  a  hundred,  Sofie,"  in  an  exact 


26  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

imitation  of  the  gruff  tones  of  the  heir  to  the 
throne,  who  was  evidently  referring  to  the  Em- 
peror, 4he  sergeant  felt  that  any  further  eaves- 
dropping would  be  dangerous.  He  picked  up  a 
cloth,  threw  it  over  this  utterer  of  high  treason, 
and  carried  the  loquacious  bird  to  the  chief  of 
the  police.  The  cloth  was  removed,  and  the 
indignant  parrot,  unused  to  such  treatment, 
began  worse  than  before.  The  sergeant  was 
dispatched  in  all  haste  to  find  a  very  thick  black 
cloth  that  might  be  calculated  to  damp  even  the 
ardour  of  an  Imperial  parrot,  and,  carefully 
wrapped  up,  the  bird  was  sent  to  the  Belvedere, 
where  the  Archduke  and  his  wife  were  in 
residence. 


CHAPTER  IV 


COUNTESS    CHOTEK 


Countess  Chotek,  afterwards  Duchess 
Hohenberg,  the  morganatic  wife  of  the  late 
Francis  Ferdinand,  the  heir  to  the  throne  of 
Austria-Hungary,  was  a  most  remarkable 
woman,  and  her  history  is  perhaps  the  most 
romantic  that  was  ever  written.  She  belonged 
to  an  impoverished  Bohemian  family,  which 
ranked  high  among  the  ancient  aristocracy  of 
that  nation.  She  was  brought  up  very  quietly 
and  was  accustomed,  as  a  girl,  to  ride  in  the 
tramway  in  Dresden,  where  her  father  held  a 
post  in  the  Diplomatic  Service.  Her  dresses 
were  very  plain,  even  for  an  aristocrat.  The 
peculiar  charm  that  she  possessed,  however, 
made  her  an  object  of  much  attention.  She  was 
a  big  blonde,  as  stately  as  an  empress,  and  at 
the  same  time  a  woman  who  knew  how  to  make 
herself  agreeable  in  conversation,  as  her  life 
had  given  her  an  intimate  knowledge  of  men 


27 


28  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

and  things  that  was  unusual  in  a  woman  belong- 
ing to  a  noble  family,  in  Austria-Hungary, 
where  the  little  aristocrats  are  convent-bred,  and 
never  encouraged  to  form  opinions  of  their  own 
upon  the  current  topics  of  the  hour.  She  was 
very  ambitious,  and  intelligent  to  an  extra- 
ordinary degree.  She  was  a  woman  who  knew 
just  what  she  wanted,  and  who  would  not  have 
hesitated  to  use  any  means  that  were  necessary 
for  the  attainment  of  her  object.  She  made  her 
entrance  into  the  Austrian  Imperial  family  in  a 
very  subordinate  position.  She  became  lady-in- 
waiting  to  the  beautiful  daughters  of  Archduke 
Frederick,  the  richest  of  all  the  Archdukes.  Her 
life  in  his  family  was  probably  not  disagreeable, 
but  decidedly  monotonous,  as  the  family  spent 
most  of  the  time  on  lonely  country  estates  in 
Hungary.  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  fre- 
quented the  Vienna  palace,  on  the  Albrecht 
Platz,  where  Archduke  Frederick  lived  when  in 
residence  at  Court.  Everyone  believed  that  he 
was  about  to  marry  one  of  the  Archduke's 
daughters,  and  the  match  was  regarded  as  a 
good  one.  The  girls  had  large  dowries,  and 
relationship  between  the  heir  to  the  throne  and 
the  branch  of  the  family  to  which  they  belonged 
was  very  distant.  It  is  probable  that  the  Arch- 
duke had  some  such  arrangement  in  his  mind 


COUNTESS   CHOTEK  29 

when  he  visited  the  house.  He,  however,  fell 
violently  and  irretrievably  in  love  with  the  lady- 
in-waiting,  a  woman  in  the  early  thirties,  and 
regarded  as  long  past  marriageable  age  in  Court 
circles.  The  romantic  story  of  the  marriage  is 
well  known,  but  the  fact  that  the  Archduke,  in 
marrying  the  lady-in-waiting,  made  an  in- 
veterate enemy  of  Archduke  Frederick  was 
never  appreciated  at  its  proper  value  abroad. 
In  Vienna  itself  the  gravity  of  the  position  was 
well  understood.  No  better-class  tradesman  in 
Austria  would  allow  such  an  insult  to  his 
daughters  to  go  unrevenged,  for  the  Austrian 
father  is  very  jealous  of  his  daughters' 
reputation.  No  young  man  is  permitted 
to  visit  at  a  house  regularly  without 
having  the  clearest  "  intentions."  At  the  Court 
this  unwritten  law  is  much  stricter  than  among 
the  people.  The  Archduke,  in  selecting  the 
lady-in-waiting,  was  casting  a  slur  upon  the 
Archduchesses  she  attended.  Fortunately, 
there  were  several  girls,  and  as  he  had  never 
singled  out  any  one  of  them  for  particular 
attention,  there  was  no  open  rupture.  It  is  cer- 
tain, however,  that  the  Archduke  behaved  in  a 
very  ungentlemanly  way,  and  that  his  conduct 
was  totally  lacking  in  delicacy.  Archduke 
Frederick   never   forgave   the   insult,  and   the 


30  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

other  members  of  the  House  of  Habsburg  sym- 
pathised with  him  in  his  wrath  at  the  incident. 
Indeed,  the  outraged  father  had  plenty  of  occa- 
sion to  remember  it.  His  daughter,  Archduchess 
Isabella,  who  had  hoped  to  become  the  future 
Empress  of  Austria,  made  an  unfortunate  mar- 
riage later  on.  Her  parents,  by  way  of  settling 
the  incident  of  the  heir  to  the  throne,  and  laying 
the  ghosts  of  rumours  that  still  hung  round  the 
girl's  name,  arranged  a  match  with  Prince 
George  of  Bavaria.  The  Archduchess,  who 
hated  the  young  man,  actually  set  fire  to  her 
wedding-dress  on  the  eve  of  the  marriage, 
hoping  that  it  would  be  put  off,  as  she  had 
nothing  suitable  to  wear. 

Incidentally,  she  set  fire  to  the  palace,  and  a 
valuable  collection  of  pictures  in  the  adjacent 
museum  was  threatened.  The  marriage  took 
place  on  the  morrow,  a  dress  having  been  hur- 
riedly contrived  for  the  occasion.  The  girl  fled 
from  her  husband  on  the  wedding  journey,  and 
afterwards  became  a  Red  Cross  nurse.  For 
these  misfortunes  the  Archduke  was  regarded 
as  primarily  responsible  and  they  served  to 
make  Countess  Chotek  still  more  detestable  to 
the  Imperial  family. 

On  his  marriage  Archduke  Francis  Ferdin- 
and renounced  all  rights  to  the  throne  and  to  any 


COUNTESS   CHOTEK  81 

dignities  or  privileges  belonging  to  members  of 
the  House  of  Habsburg  for  his  heirs.  He  and 
his  wife  withdrew  into  obscurity,  where  a  family 
of  beautiful  children  was  born  to  them.  This 
led  Countess  Chotek  to  dream  of  altering  the 
laws  of  succession  and  securing  the  throne  for 
her  eldest  son.  With  this  ulterior  object  in  view 
she  came  to  Vienna  at  the  time  of  the  Emperor's 
illness,  and  tried  to  force  her  way  into  Court 
society.  Her  rank  entitled  her  to  be  received  at 
Court,  but  not  to  be  admitted  into  the  magic 
circle  of  the  Austrian  Imperial  family  as  one  of 
themselves.  The  etiquette  of  the  Vienna  Court 
is  the  strictest  in  Europe,  and  is  based  upon 
that  ruling  at  the  Spanish  Court.  The  members 
of  the  Habsburg  family  are  all  extremely 
simple,  but  they  permit  no  liberties  to  be  taken 
either  with  themselves  or  the  family.  Countess 
Chotek,  as  she  was  then,  appeared  at  the  Court 
ball  unannounced.  She  intended  to  surprise  the 
Master  of  the  Ceremonies,  and  force  him  to 
allow  her  to  enter  with  the  Archduchesses.  The 
old  man  did  not  lose  his  presence  of  mind.  He 
met  the  difficulty  in  a  very  clever  way.  The 
married  Archduchesses  walked  in  first,  each 
with  her  cavalier,  selected  especially  for  the 
honour.  After  the  long  procession  of  handsome, 
stately  dames  with  flowing  trains  had  passed 


32  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

into  the  brilliantly-lighted  room,  the  young 
Archduchesses  who  were  presented. at  Court  for 
the  first  time  were  led  into  the  hall,  each  on  the 
arm  of  a  handsome  3^oung  officer.  Eight  girls, 
dressed  in  simple  muslin  gowns  that  barely 
reached  to  their  ankles,  and  looking  very 
childish,  as  none  was  more  than  eighteen  years 
of  age,  came  next  in  the  long  procession.  The 
Master  of  the  Ceremonies,  who  had  detained 
Countess  Chotek,  found  her  a  place,  on  the  left 
arm  of  the  last  cavalier,  the  youngest  of  the 
Archduchesses  occupying  the  post  of  honour  on 
the  right.  Countess  Chotek  entered  the  ball- 
room inwardly  raging.  Everyone  noticed  the 
insult,  as  the  other  ladies  all  had  a  cavalier  to 
themselves.  The  next  morning  the  Vienna  news- 
papers alluded  to  the  slight  which  had  been  put 
upon  the  wife  of  the  heir  to  the  throne,  and  said 
that  the  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  should  have 
remembered  that  the  Countess  was  a  woman, 
and  have  refrained  from  so  pointed  an  insult. 
Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  and  his  wife  left 
Vienna  the  next  day  as  a  protest,  and  this  was 
the  last  occasion  upon  which  he  tried  to  force 
his  wife  upon  the  Court. 

Kaiser  Wilhelm,  whose  emissaries  always 
kept  him  well  informed  of  every  event,  big  or 
little,  in  Vienna,  heard  of  the  incident.      Now 


COUNTESS   CHOTEK  33 

was  the  time  for  him  to  interfere.  The  Arch- 
duke, who  had  always  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
blandishments  from  Berlin,  would  now  be 
accessible.  The  man  who  was  too  strong  to  care 
to  hear  flattery  of  himself  would  lend  a  willing 
ear  to  any  defence  of  his  beautiful  wife,  who  had 
been  grossly  insulted.  The  Archduke  became 
more  deeply  attached  to  his  wife  every  year; 
the  inconveniences  to  which  he  was  subjected 
for  her  sake  only  strengthened  his  affection. 
When,  therefore,  an  invitation  for  the  Archduke 
and  his  wife  came  from  Berlin  it  was  gratefully 
accepted.  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  whose  wife,  the 
Empress,  has  never  been  allowed  to  have  much 
voice  in  things,  placed  Countess  Chotek  in  the 
place  of  honour,  and,  what  is  vastly  more 
important,  caused  the  fact  to  be  chronicled  in 
the  German  and  Austrian  papers.  The  Arch- 
duchesses in  Vienna  raged  inwardly,  for  Coun- 
tess Chotek,  the  "  scullery-maid,"  as  they  were 
in  the  habit  of  calling  her,  was  being  received 
with  Royal  honours,  and  the  rank  accorded  to 
her  in  Berlin  was  such  as  would  be  given  to  a 
future  Empress.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  won  a  warm 
friend  by  this  clever  manoeuvre,  which  inci- 
dentally cost  him  nothing. 

The  Archduke  did  not   come   to   Vienna  on 
representative  occasions  after  this  episode,  but 

D 


34  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

he  kept  in  close  touch  with  the  Foreign  Minister, 
Count  Aehrenthal,  who  looked  to  him  for  guid- 
ance instead  of  to  the  Emperor.  The  War 
Minister  went  to  the  Archduke's  Bohemian 
palace  when  he  wanted  large  estimates  passed, 
and  induced  the  Archduke  to  exert  his  influence 
in  this  direction.  Meanwhile  the  favourite  occu- 
pation of  the  Archduke  continued  to  be  garden- 
ing, and  this  taste  took  him  all  over  Europe. 
The  Court  Chronicle  never  spoke  of  the  Arch- 
duke. An  accidental  paragraph  in  some  foreign 
paper  would  reveal  the  fact  that  he  and  the 
Countess  were  in  Holland,  attending  sales  of 
bulbs.  He  even  went  to  England  incognito  on 
several  occasions  to  visit  far-famed  gardens. 
It  is  doubtful,  in  the  light  of  later  events, 
whether  all  these  journeys  were  connected 
solely  with  gardening,  although  the  Archduke 
was  a  passionate  horticulturist.  Countess 
Chotek  always  accompanied  her  husband,  and 
when,  in  the  early  spring,  he  went  to  Miramare, 
near  Trieste,  or  to  the  fairy-like  island  of 
Brioni,  she  and  the  children  went  too.  The 
Archduke  spent  his  time  in  superintending  the 
building  of  small  swift  cruisers,  in  inspecting 
wireless  telegraphic  installations  on  the  coast, 
and  in  keeping  the  naval  experts  employed  at 
high  pressure.     He  was  the  first  Archduke  who 


COUNTESS   CHOTEK  35 

was  interested  in  the  sea,  the  aged  Emperor 
caring  so  little  for  marine  affairs  that  he  did  not 
even  possess  a  naval  uniform  among  the  large 
and  miscellaneous  collection  in  his  wardrobe. 

Countess  Chotek,  like  many  not  born  to  the 
purple,  made  mistakes  of  a  kind  that  did  not 
add  to  her  popularity.  Her  husband  had  great 
possessions,  and  owned  art  treasures  of  inestim- 
able worth,  but  they  were  far  from  being  a 
source  of  revenue.  In  fact  his  income  was  not 
sufficient  to  keep  them  up  properly.  His  wife 
had  brought  him  no  dowry.  His  growing  family 
was  a  source  of  expense.  Thus  ready  money 
was  a  scarcity  in  the  family.  Countess  Chotek 
tried  to  economise  on  her  personal  expenses, 
instead  of  leaving  it  to  her  stewards,  who  under- 
stood where  a  woman  of  that  rank  can  be  mean 
and  where  she  must  be  munificent.  She  became 
involved  in  many  discreditable  affaires  through 
her  stinginess.  One  of  these  was  a  dispute  with 
a  cabby  at  Salzburg.  The  Countess  committed 
an  unheard-of  indiscretion — she  took  a  one- 
horsed  cab.  No  lady,  en  toilette,  can  ride  in  a 
one-horsed  cab  in  Austria.  If  really  poor  she 
can  ride  in  the  electric  tramway,  but  for  some 
occult  reason  the  cab  is  taboo.  She  must  either 
take  a  fiacre  with  a  pair  of  dashing  steeds,  or  a 
motor-car.     Countess  Chotek  not  only  hailed  a 

D    2 


36  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

one-horsed  cab,  when  a  row  of  handsome  and 
well-fitted  fiacres  stood  by,  but  refused  to  pay 
the  fare  the  cabby  demanded.  He  had  recog- 
nised the  lady,  and  naturally  thought  that  she 
would  stand  imposition,  as  ladies  of  the  Imperial 
family  never  go  about  unattended,  and  the  only 
explanation  to  his  unsophisticated  mind  was 
that  the  Countess  was  on  clandestine  business 
of  some  kind,  and  should  be  blackmailed  for  it. 
To  his  astonishment  she  marched  him  off  to  the 
police-station  herself.  The  police  condemned 
the  unfortunate  cabby  to  a  fine,  but  the  Countess 
Sofia  was  felt  to  be  in  the  wrong.  What  had 
possessed  her  to  ride  in  an  "  Einspanner"  ?  An 
elopement  with  the  groom  or  automobile 
chauffeur  was  quite  an  ordinary  incident  among 
the  aristocracy  and  speedily  forgotten,  but  such 
a  mistake  as  going  in  the  wrong  kind  of  cab  was 
more  than  a  misdemeanour,  it  was  a  lack  of 
s avoir  vivre  that  the  country  could  never  for- 
give. 


CHAPTER  V 

VIENNA 

If  you  ask  an  educated,  reflecting  Austrian 
under  what  form  of  Government  he  lives,  he  will 
reply,  "  The  Emperor  of  Austria  and  King  of 
Hungary  is  an  absolute  monarch;  we  live  under 
a  despotism  tempered  by  carelessness."  And  he 
will  laugh  flippantly.  "  So  long  as  one  man,  the 
Emperor,  has  the  right  to  decide  whether  there 
will  be  peace  or  war,  without  appealing  to  his 
Ministers,  the  Constitution  is  a  mere  mockery. 
We  owe  the  only  liberties  we  enjoy  to  the  slack- 
ness in  the  administration  of  the  laws  of  the 
realm;  we  have  no  rights."  "  How  is  it  that  the 
country  has  never  demanded  its  rights  ? " 
"  Those  who  ask  awkward  questions  in  this 
country  are  hanged  or  exiled  .  .  .  Those  who 
wish  to  remain  here  keep  a  still  tongue  in  their 
heads  .  .  .  We  are  talking  treason  now,  and 
there  are  spies  everywhere."     Other  Austrians 

87 


38  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

belonging  to  the  intellectual  class  explain  that 
the  men  in  power  encourage  frivolity  sys- 
tematically, and  provide  amusement  for  the 
people  to  prevent  their  thinking  or  reflecting. 
Certain  it  is  that  Vienna  before  the  war  was  the 
chief  centre  of  gaiety  in  Europe. 

In  spite  of  the  sombre  shadow  cast  over  the 
Court,  the  city  lived  for  amusement.  It  was  the 
only  thing  that  the  Viennese  really  understood. 
In  Advent  things  are  relatively  quiet;  there  is 
the  same  round  of  gaiety  as  later  in  the  year, 
but  the  toilettes  are  sombre,  and  everything  is 
on  a  less  magnificent  scale  than  in  Fasching, 
the  time  between  the  Court  Ball — when  the 
Emperor  opens  the  real  season — and  the  begin- 
ning of  Lent.  The  winter  of  1908  was  parti- 
cularly gay.  There  was  skating  all  day  and 
dancing  all  night.  Light  sleds  carried  the  girls 
to  balls  when  the  snow  had  frozen  hard  and 
horses,  in  their  spiked  shoes,  could  not  get  any 
grip  on  the  slippery  paving-stones.  Others 
went  in  the  electric  tramway,  which  ran  even 
when  the  temperature  was  far  below  freezing- 
point,  and  the  drivers  were  provided  with 
astrachan  masks  and  goggles,  to  prevent  their 
eyelids  freezing  to  their  cheeks.  There  were 
balls  every  night  given  by  different  societies 
and   corporations  of   all   grades   and   degrees, 


VIENNA  39 

from  the  artists'  ball  to  the  chimney-sweeps' 
dance.  No  one  ever  dreamt  of  staying  at  home 
during  Fasching.  Such  details  as  lack  of  dress, 
money  or  chaperones  made  no  difference.  If 
you  had  no  dress  you  borrowed  a  domino  and 
went  to  a  masked  ball.  The  balls  often  lasted 
far  into  the  next  day,  sometimes  only  closing 
at  four  in  the  afternoon.  Everyone  can  dance, 
and  did  dance  through  the  festive  season,  except 
small  children,  who  were  learning  their  steps 
at  the  dancing-school.  Many  began  to  dance 
and  skate  before  they  were  firm  on  their  feet, 
their  parents  so  dreaded  their  not  being  skilled 
in  the  things  that  "  really  mattered."  Old  men 
did  not  stay  at  home ;  they  sat  in  a  favourite 
cafe,  where  a  table  was  reserved  for  them,  ever 
since  they  had  been  saluted  as  "  Herr  Doctor" 
for  the  first  time  by  the  waiter  who  judged  that 
they  had  reached  manhood.  The  rule  universally 
accepted,  and  put  into  practice  by  rich  and  poor 
alike,  was  :  "  Enjoy  yourself  while  you  can,  you 
never  know  what  the  morrow  may  bring."  In 
the  case  of  the  Viennese  it  only  brought  new 
varieties  of  enjoyment.  No  considerate 
em.ployer  expected  his  staff  to  turn  up  in  full 
numbers  after  a  redoute.  Sleep  was  rare  in  the 
season.  Many  young  men  never  went  to  bed  at 
all  night  after  night;  they  left  the  ball-room  at 


40  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

dawn,  took  an  ice-cold  dip,  and  repaired  to  the 
next  cafe,  where  they  drank  cup  after  cup  of 
strong  black  coffee,  to  enable  them  to  keep 
awake  during  office  hours.  The  employer  said 
nothing  so  long  as  the  work  was  done. 

After  the  ball  it  was  the  rule  to  visit  the 
music-halls  and  night  cafes,  and  this  continual 
gaiety  left  no  time  or  inclination  to  discuss  poli- 
tics or  criticise  rulers.  Everyone  was  contented 
and  satisfied  with  things  as  they  were.  They 
made  no  excuse  for  their  frivolity.  "  In  fact  a 
man  who  showed  no  disposition  to  join  in  the 
round  of  gaiety  immediately  became  "  suspect." 
An  officer  had  more  chances  of  making  a  career 
for  himself  if  he  were  a  good  dancer  and  could 
pirouette  his  way  into  the  good  graces  of  the 
commander's  aged  wife  than  if  he  spent  hours 
over  maps  and  plans.  His  brother  officers 
wondered  why  he  wished  to  investigate 
things.  .  .  .  Was  he  selling  information  to 
Russia? 

At  this  epoch  winter  sports  were  beginning 
to  become  a  factor  in  the  life  of  the  Austrians. 
Some  girls  asked  their  fathers  to  give  them 
the  money  ear-marked  for  balls  to  spend  on 
ski  and  a  winter  outfit.  In  the  middle  classes 
the  innovation  was  not  regarded  as  an  advan- 
tage.   Winter  sports  cost  more  than  balls.    The 


VIENNA  41 

girls  were  inclined  to  become  too  emancipated, 
and  their  mothers  spent  anxious  hours  wonder- 
ing whether  they  had  not  taken  cold  or  met  with 
accidents.  In  the  upper  classes  winter  sports 
and  dancing  were  combined.  The  Austro-Hun- 
garian  aristocrat  is  accustomed  to  an  outdoor 
life,  and  the  lower  classes,  too,  went  ski-ing  in 
the  mountains  just  outside  Vienna.  The 
Government,  quick  to  see  that  it  would  be  an 
advantage  to  have  soldiers  trained  to  use  skis  for 
the  army,  encouraged  winter  sports,  put  on  cheap 
trains  and  extra  trams  to  enable  the  people  to 
go  in  for  it  thoroughly. 

The  army  of  dressmakers,  shoemakers, 
florists,  and  others  who  live  by  manufactur- 
ing articles  for  the  ball  season  naturally 
disapproved  of  winter  sports ;  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  new  fashion  really  made  much 
difference  to  them,  for  the  ball-rooms  seemed 
as  full  as  ever. 

There  were  large  numbers  of  strangers  in 
both  Vienna  and  Budapesth;  curiously  enough 
they  were  almost  without  exception  people  from 
within  the  Empire  or  from  the  Balkans.  Vienna 
was  always  the  capital  of  the  Balkans.  The 
women  came  to  shop  there,  girls  were  sent  to 
finishing  schools  in  the  capital,  and  it  was  a  kind 
of  Mecca  to  which  men  from  far-off  places  in 


42  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

Rumania  dreamed  of  coming  once  in  their  lives. 
The  Balkan  kings  visited  Vienna,  and  reaped 
credit  with  their  peoples  from  having  sat  side 
by  side  with  the  Emperor,  the  great  stickler  for 
etiquette,  the  arbiter  of  rank  for  the  East. 

Such  was  Vienna,  and  such  were  to  a  lesser 
degree  the  provincial  cities  of  Austria-Hungary, 
which  all  modelled  themselves  on  the  capital, 
when  Kaiser  Wilhelm  of  Germany  and  the  heir 
to  the  throne.  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand, 
decided  to  embark  upon  an  aggressive  policy. 
The  Archduke  fondly  believed  that  the  idea 
originated  with  himself,  and  that  he  was  right 
in  taking  advantage  of  the  temporary  disable- 
ment of  the  aged  Emperor  to  strike  a  blow  for 
his  country's  aggrandisement.  He  did  not  see 
that  he  was  doing  an  unwise  thing  in  listening 
to  the  counsels  of  a  neighbouring  monarch, 
whose  interests  were  by  no  means  identical  with 
those  of  his  own  country,  and  acting  on  these 
promptings,  without  consulting  the  Emperor. 
Count  Aehrenthal,  the  Foreign  Minister,  was  a 
creature  of  the  new  regime,  and  he  took  his 
instructions  from  the  coming  man.  Changes  of 
policy  for  the  Dual  Monarchy  are  usually 
announced  at  the  meeting  of  the  Delegations, 
an  assembly  of  members  of  the  Austrian  and  of 
the  Hungarian  Parliaments,  who  are  delegated 


VIENNA  43 

by  their  fellows  to  represent  them  at  the  meet- 
ing. The  Delegations,  which  sit  in  Vienna  and 
in  Budapesth  alternatively,  vote  supplies  for  all 
objects  common  to  the  two  countries,  such  as  the 
army  and  navy.  The  small  check  that  the 
Austrian  and  Hungarian  Parliaments  can  put 
on  their  rulers  lies  here.  The  members  of  the 
Delegations,  however,  were  men  who  had  axes 
to  grind  and  seldom  interfered  with  the  pro- 
gramme announced  by  the  Foreign  Minister. 

It  was  at  a  meeting  of  the  Delegations  in 
Vienna,  in  the  winter  of  igo8,  that  Baron 
Aehrenthal  announced  the  fact  that  Austria- 
Hungary  had  embarked  upon  an  aggressive 
policy.  The  days  of  quiet  and  tranquillity  were 
over;  the  country  intended  to  join  in  the  march 
forward.  It  only  sought  commercial  expansion, 
it  is  true,  but  it  was  prepared  to  face  all  and  any 
consequences. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SALONICA 

Aehrenthal  sketched  a  programme  of  com- 
mercial extension  in  the  Near  East.  The  first 
step  to  be  taken  was  the  building  of  the  Sanjak 
railway.  The  Sanjak  is  a  narrow  strip  of  barren 
land  which  was  at  that  period  occupied  by  Aus- 
trian troops.  Aehrenthal  now  proposed  to  build 
a  railway  through  the  Sanjak,  with  the  terminus 
at  Salonica.  This  railway  would  give  Austria- 
Hungary  the  control  of  the  Balkans  as  far  as 
trade  questions  were  concerned.  Salonica  would 
virtually  become  Austrian  property,  not  by  the 
force  of  conquest,  but  by  the  natural  sequence 
of  events.  It  had  long  been  plain  that  the 
Turkish  Empire  was  crumbling.  None  knew 
better  than  the  Austrians  that  the  hour  for  the 
final  dissolution  of  the  Turkish  Empire  had 
come.  It  therefore  behoved  Austria-Hungary 
to  anticipate  her  rivals  and  to  secure  the  most 


SALONICA  45 

important  port — Salonica.    The  building  of  the 
Sanjak  railway  would  have  shortened  the  route 
to  the  East  by  many  hours.    Many  statesmen  in 
Austria-Hungary  did  not  approve  of  the  Sanjak 
project.     There  was  an  alternative  and  much 
quicker  route  over  Albania.    If  a  railway  could 
be  built  from   Durazzo   or  Vallona   across  to 
Salonica,  two  days  could  be  saved  on  the  route 
to  the   East.      Many  statesmen  favoured  this 
plan.     The  Sanjak  was  a  death-trap,  they  said; 
the    line    would    run    through    gullies    among 
mountains  where  enemies  could  command  it. 
Besides  the  danger  of  enemy  forces  in  case  of 
war,  the  wild  bands  of  half-civilised  folk  in  the 
Balkans  must  be  considered  too.     They  might 
plunder  the  train  at  any  time;  it  would  be  very 
easy  to  hold  it  up  between  the  steep  defiles. 
In  Albania  there  was  flat,  fertile  country  that 
would  be  vastly  more  suited  for  railway  build- 
ing;  it  could,  besides,  be  opened  up  with  ad- 
vantage.     The    only    trouble   with    regard    to 
Albania  was  that  there  was  a  treaty  between 
Austria  and  Italy  regarding  any  occupation  of 
that  country.    If  Austria  took  northern  Albania, 
as  she  hoped  to   do,   Italy  was  to  have  the 
southern  part.     Vallona,  the  best  harbour  on 
the  Adriatic,  lay  in  the  part  claimed  by  Italy. 
Thus    Austria-Hungary    hesitated    between 


46  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

two  alternative  schemes.  The  German  element 
in  Austria  was  for  pushing  towards  Salonica 
over  the  Sanjak.  The  idea  had  come  from 
Berlin,  and  had  been  carefully  suggested  to 
Austrian  diplomatists  by  the  Emperor's  ad- 
visers. Aehrenthal  announced  it  publicly  at 
the  Delegations,  and  waited  to  see  what  effect 
his  audacious  move  would  have  upon  Europe. 
The  Greeks  sitting  in  the  cafe  in  the  Fleisch- 
markt  in  Vienna  were  the  first  on  that  memor- 
able night  of  the  Delegations'  meeting  to  catch 
up  the  words,  "  To  Salonica."  "  Salonica  is 
Greek,"  they  said.  "  If  it  is  wrested  from  the 
Turks,  it  must  fall  to  Greece."  Twenty-four 
hours  later  Europe  said  what  it  thought  of  Aus- 
tria's plans  of  expansion.  The  old  Emperor, 
Francis  Joseph,  who  had  probably  listened  in  a 
semi-comatose  condition,  as  he  frequently  did, 
to  the  report  made  by  his  Foreign  Minister  on 
the  Sanjak  railway,  summoned  him  to  Schon- 
brunn  in  haste.  There,  in  his  characteristic 
way,  in  language  so  plain  that  there  was  no 
mistaking  it,  and  that  would  have  done  credit  to 
a  Vienna  cabby,  the  Emperor  forbade  any 
thoughts  of  a  forward  policy.  He  had  had  mis- 
fortunes enough  in  his  long  reign,  he  said.  If 
any  innovation  was  to  be  made  it  could  be 
undertaken  by  his  successor;  for  the  rest  of  his 


Baron  Aehrenthal, 


SALONICA  47 

life  there  would  be  quiet.  He  understood  that 
Russia  was  aghast  at  Austria's  plans  of  aggres- 
sion, England  was  furious,  and  France  asking 
what  it  all  meant.  The  announcement  made  at 
the  Delegations  might  be  regarded  as  unspoken. 
Strange  to  say,  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand, 
the  heir  to  the  throne,  agreed  with  the  Emperor. 
He  considered  that  the  forward  movement  in 
the  Balkans  planned  by  Aehrenthal  was  ill- 
judged.  He  was  aware  that  Kaiser  Wilhelm 
and  the  "  German  "  party  in  Austria  desired  to 
open  the  road  to  the  East.  The  Archduke, 
however,  took  a  much  clearer  view  of  the 
political  situation  than  the  Kaiser  and  his  ad- 
visers. He  grasped  the  very  obvious  fact  that 
Italy  was  not  a  willing  member  of  the  Triple 
Alliance.  She  was  only  waiting  for  an  excuse 
that  would  sound  at  all  plausible  to  break  loose 
from  her  bonds.  Why  the  Archduke  should  be 
keenly  aware  of  a  fact  that  was  never  even  sus- 
pected by  Kaiser  Wilhelm  is  not  easy  to  say. 
Perhaps  the  intensity  of  his  hatred  enabled  him 
to  read  the  national  character  aright,  for  the 
Archduke  hated  Italy  with  a  bitter  hatred.  He 
possessed  estates  in  Italy,  and  considered  that 
the  Italian  Courts  of  Justice  had  treated  him 
unfairly  in  a  series  of  law  suits  he  had  had  about 
his  property  there.     Moreover,  there  were  dif- 


48  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

ferences  of  temperament  between  the  Austrians 
and  Italians.  Francis  Ferdinand  was  essentially 
a  "  German  "  Austrian — that  is  to  say,  an  Aus- 
trian with  leanings  towards  Prussian  methods, 
who  wished  to  have  the  Austrian  army  re- 
organised on  Prussian  methods.  There  was 
something  in  the  Italian  character  that  roused  the 
Archduke's  anger ;  both  he  and  Kaiser  Wilhelm 
felt  the  rage,  often  manifested  by  the  savage 
for  things  he  cannot  understand,  at  Italy  and 
Italy's  methods.  This  common  dislike  for  Italy 
which  possessed  both  men  was  doubtless  due  to 
a  remarkable  and  startling  change  in  the  Italian 
character.  During  the  last  twenty  years  the 
Italians  have  organised  themselves  on  German 
lines;  the  Italian  of  to-day  has  all  the  efficiency 
of  the  Prussian  without  his  cumbersome 
methods.  W^hen  Kaiser  V^ilhelm  went  to  Italy 
unexpectedly  to  visit  his  friends  there,  he  found 
hydroplanes  that  excelled  those  at  home  moving 
about  in  the  limpid  waters  of  the  Adriatic.  He 
went  to  Miramare,  swelling  with  anger.  Both 
he  and  Francis  Ferdinand  were  sufficiently 
intelligent  to  take  in  the  position  at  a  glance. 
Italy  was  like  a  child  that  had  stolen  a  march 
upon  the  world  in  a  night  by  attaining  to  her 
full  stature  while  the  others  slept.  Both  raged 
at  the  unexpected  turn  things  had  taken.    While 


SALONICA  49 

Kaiser  Wilhelm  was  anxious  to  keep  Italy  as 
an  ally,  because  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary 
had  so  small  a  coast-line,  Francis  Ferdinand, 
with  much  truer  insight  into  the  interests  of  his 
country,  said,  "  Fall  upon  Italy  unexpectedly 
and  crush  her."  Kaiser  Wilhelm  realised  that 
the  Austro-Hungarian  fleet  would  only  be  of 
use  if  it  could  emerge  from  the  Adriatic. 
Bottled  up  in  the  inland  sea  by  the  Italian  fleet 
it  was  a  negligible  quantity.  He  did  not  com- 
prehend the  bitter  hatred  felt  by  every  Italian 
for  the  ancient  oppressor,  the  Austrian.  He  prob- 
ably knew  little  of  the  ways  in  which  Italians 
in  Austria  w^ere  persecuted,  in  spite  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Triple  Alliance.  The  Government 
went  about  its  work  in  a  very  wary  manner,  and 
incidents  which  would  have  opened  his  eyes 
were  carefully  hushed  up.  It  is  probable,  too, 
that  the  Austrians  deceived  the  Kaiser  as  to 
the  attitude  of  the  Italians.  Every  Austrian 
knew  in  his  heart  that  there  could  never  be  any- 
thing but  war  between  the  two  countries.  The 
manner  in  which  they  habitually  alluded  to  the 
Italians  was  sufficient  to  prove  their  intense 
hate.  The  Italian  subjects  living  in  Austria 
reciprocated  this  sentiment  in  full.  Whenever 
they  found  an  opportunity  of  paying  back  some 
of  the  Austrian  hate   for  them,   they   availed 

E 


50  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

themselves  of  the  chance.  Archduke  Francis 
Ferdinand  always  used  his  influence  to  prevent 
Austro-Italians  rising  to  power.  He  had  officials 
in  Trieste  removed  from  their  posts  merely 
because  they  were  "  Italians."  Their  places 
were  taken  by  Slavs,  who  regarded  the  Arch- 
duke as  their  protector.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  Slavs  were  the  only  people  in  Austria- 
Hungary  who  respected  and  liked  the  heir  to 
the  throne.  The  Germans  despised  him.  The 
Hungarians  frankly  detested  him,  and  the 
Italians  execrated  him.  The  Bohemians,  the 
Croats,  and  the  Serbs,  all  Slav  races,  regarded 
him  as  their  representative.  In  the  racial  con- 
tests for  place  and  power  in  Dalmatia,  in 
Istria,  the  Slavs  who  wished  to  oust  the  Italians 
from  their  places  appealed  to  the  Archduke, 
and  immediately  got  what  they  wanted,  while 
the  Czechs,  who  were  in  deadly  antagonism  with 
the  Germans  in  Bohemia,  had  a  powerful  advo- 
cate in  Countess  Chotek.  When  the  German 
officials  tried  to  introduce  the  teaching  in  Ger- 
man instead  of  the  Czech  language  into  elemen- 
tary schools  in  Bohemia  in  Czech  districts,  the 
Archduke  stood  by  them  and  prevented  any 
encroachment  by  the  German  element. 

Thus  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  and  his  heir 
agreed,  although  from  different  motives,  in  pre- 


SALONICA  51 

venting  the  plan  of  the  building  of  the  Sanjak 
railway  being  pursued.  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  who 
had  taken  no  part  in  the  disputes  that  were 
raging  in  Vienna,  was  glad  that  the  idea  of 
Austria-Hungary's  embarking  on  an  aggressive 
policy  should  be  ventilated,  but  did  not  wish 
her  to  take  any  course  that  might  lead  to  war 
either  in  the  Balkans  or  with  Italy.  Neither 
country  was  prepared  to  embark  on  an  aggres- 
sive world-war.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  encouraged 
Austro-Hungarian  statesmen  to  contemplate  a 
series  of  wars  with  poor  and  helpless  neighbours, 
such  as  Italy,  Montenegro,  and  Servia,  but  he 
was  really  thinking  of  executing  his  projects,  of 
placing  Germany  "  iiber  alles  !  "  He  knew  that 
this  idea  of  aggressive  warfare  would  render  it 
easier  for  the  German  party  to  obtain  the  arma- 
ments required  for  the  coming  struggle,  while 
public  opinion  in  the  country  would  become 
accustomed  to  the  idea  of  a  policy  of  expansion. 
He  cared  little  that  the  Archduke  was  prepar- 
ing for  a  couf  upon  Italy  when  he  was  contem- 
plating a  blow  in  the  opposite  direction.  The 
necessity  for  realising  his  plans  made  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  regard  all  means  justifiable,  even  the 
deception  of  his  allies. 

The  storm  raised  by  the  Sanjak  railway  pro- 
ject gradually  calmed  down,  and  Count  Aehren- 

E    2 


52  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

thai,  baulked  in  his  plans,  retired  to  the  back- 
ground to  work  out  fresh  plans  for  Austro- 
Hungarian  aggrandisement;  while  Archduke 
Francis  Ferdinand,  still  sore  at  the  Court  Ball 
incident,  sulked  upon  his  magnificent  estate  at 
Konospischt,  in  Bohemia,  where  he  superin- 
tended his  wonderful  collection  of  exotic  plants 
and  tried  to  forget  Vienna  the  dusty,  that  was 
so  bad  for  his  lungs. 

Kaiser  Wilhelm  became  increasingly  aware 
that  the  immediate  necessities  of  the  situation 
rendered  it  important  to  gain  Archduke  Francis 
Ferdinand  to  his  side.  The  Kaiser  was  pain- 
fully conscious  that  neither  the  aged  Emperor 
nor  his  heir  had  any  real  regard  for  him.  They 
were  inclined  to  look  upon  him  as  an  upstart  in 
many  ways.  The  Kaiser's  sudden  excursions 
into  realms  that  they  regarded  as  distinctly  not 
regal  annoyed  them.  What  need  had  the  Em- 
peror of  Germany  to  seek  distinction  as  a  writer 
of  plays  .^  By  such  tricks  he  brought  down  the 
whole  level  of  royalty.  All  the  Habsburgs  are 
eminently  dignified,  and  Kaiser  Wilhelm  always 
seemed  something  of  a  royal  mountebank  to 
them,  with  his  strange  longings  after  artistic  fame, 
his  childish  wish  for  popularity — a  matter  of  the 
most  complete  indifference  to  his  brother 
monarch  in  Vienna. 


CHAPTER  VII 

KAISER  WILHELM  IN  VIENNA 

Vienna,  startled  for  an  instant  by  the  events 
connected  with  the  meeting  of  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Delegations,  soon  sank  back  again  into 
complete  apathy  as  regards  foreign  politics. 
The  Sanjak  railway  was  forgotten  and  everyone 
was  thinking  of  how  the  short  time  between 
Easter  and  the  "  Derby,"  the  final  event  of  the 
Vienna  summer  season,  was  to  be  spent,  when 
news  came  that  Kaiser  Wilhelm  was  about  to 
visit  Vienna.  He  proposed  to  come  to  cele- 
brate the  aged  Emperor's  jubilee  and  to  bring 
his  whole  family  with  him.  The.  Viennese  con- 
sidered this  most  tactless.  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph  had  lost  his  only  son  in  a  drunken  brawl, 
and  now  his  professed  friend  wished  to  remind 
him  of  the  fact  by  bringing  a  family  of  hand- 
some young  men  to  accentuate  the  contrast 
between  the  lonely  old  man  and  the  Kaiser  in 


54  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

the  prime  of  life,  surrounded  by  his  six  sons. 
The  Kaiser  secretly  planned  another  "  honour  " 
for  the  Emperor.  All  the  Federal  Princes  were 
to  arrive  in  Vienna  before  the  Kaiser  and  to 
await  him  on  the  platform.  The  Kaiser  ar- 
ranged for  them  and  their  retinue  to  reach 
Vienna  separately  and  almost  in  secrecy.  No 
receptions  were  to  be  given  them  on  arrival.  He 
only  broke  the  news  to  the  Emperor  privately 
when  all  the  arrangements  were  complete  and 
some  of  the  Princes  already  on  their  way 
to  Vienna.  The  Emperor  thereupon  lost  his 
temper,  which  had  already  been  sorely  tried  by 
the  proposal  to  bring  so  many  Imperial  Princes. 
He  sent  a  message  to  say  that  his  health  would 
not  allow  of  him  receiving  anyone  excepting  the 
Kaiser.  The  Kaiser  had  to  abandon  his  plan, 
which  was  to  have  the  Emperor  of  Austria  and 
the  German  Federal  Princes  grouped  together 
on  the  little  platform  at  Penzing,  awaiting  his 
arrival  "like  the  rising  sun,"  as  the  Vienna 
papers  put  it,  and  allow  the  Emperor  to  do 
homage  to  him  among  his  vassals,  thus  recog- 
nising him  as  overlord  of  all  the  German- 
speaking  peoples. 

The  Press  said  what  it  thought  of  the  Kaiser's 
overweening  ambition,  and  he  was  very  sur- 
prised.    The  Austrians  were  not  so  stupid  as 


KAISER   WILHELM   IN   VIENNA        55 

he  had  thought.  They  had  grasped  his  plan 
to  make  himself  the  man  of  the  hour  instead 
of  leaving  the  first  place  to  the  monarch  whose 
jubilee  was  being  celebrated. 

Wilhelm's  fertile,  restless  brain  had  hardly 
abandoned  one  project  before  it  conceived 
another.  He  left  his  bevy  of  handsome  sons 
at  home,  but  took  his  only  daughter  with  him 
to  Vienna.  The  heir  to  the  Austrian  throne, 
Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand,  had  made  a  mor- 
ganatic marriage;  his  children  could  not  suc- 
ceed. Archduke  Carl  Francis  Joseph,  the  son 
of  Archduke  Otto,  who  had  lately  died  a 
horrible  death,  would  be  the  next  heir.  Why 
should  Princess  Louise  not  become  Empress  of 
Austria  and  Queen  of  Hungary?  There 
was  the  little  difficulty  about  religion,  but  that 
could  be  managed.  Louise  and  her  mother,  the 
Empress,  were  informed  that  they  would  be 
allowed  to  accompany  the  Kaiser.  It  is  likely 
that  the  ladies  had  but  small  notice,  for  Princess 
Louise  wore  skirts  that  were  perfectly  appro- 
priate to  the  palace  at  Potsdam,  where  she 
ranked  as  the  greatest  tomboy  of  the  family, 
but  they  were  decidedly  too  short  and  too  tight 
for  the  Austrian  Court,  where  ample  petti- 
coats are  de  rigueur.  A  tall,  thin  girl,  looking 
absolutely  irrepressive,  stalked  up  the  platform 


56  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

by  her  mother's  side.  Distracted  ladies-in- 
waiting  had  attempted  to  teach  her  the  Austrian 
Court  curtsey — a  most  complicated  manoeuvre 
that  takes  years  to  learn.  They  also  tried  to 
instil  some  ideas  of  the  strictness  of  the  Aus- 
trian Court  etiquette  into  her  mind.  She  was 
the  terror  of  the  palace  at  home ;  the  ladies-in- 
waiting  stood  in  great  awe  of  the  spoilt  child. 
They  trembled  when  their  turn  to  attend  upon 
Her  Royal  Highness  came  round.  They  feared 
what  would  happen  when  she  got  to  Vienna. 
The  change  from  the  free  and  easy  manners  of 
the  Berlin  Court  to  the  unchangeable  rules  and 
regulations  of  Vienna  was  enough  to  upset  a 
more  placid  girl.  All  the  bowing  and  smiling 
upset  Princess  Louise,  whose  education  had 
been  very  "  Protestant."  She  put  out  her 
tongue  at  one  of  the  stately  Archduchesses — 
behind  her  back,  it  is  true,  but  the  incident  did 
not  go  unnoticed.  She  dropped  a  bouquet  that 
had  been  presented  to  her  because  the  weight 
annoyed  her.  The  Empress  of  Germany  looked 
dismayed  at  the  dismal  failure.  She  had  some 
idea  of  the  Kaiser's  plans,  and  was  aware  five 
minutes  after  the  special  train  had  pulled  up  on 
the  platform  that  the  project  had  fallen  through. 
Wilhelm,  who  is  not  by  any  means  sensitive, 
had  not  marked  the  by-play.     The  look  on  the 


KAISER  WILHELM   IN  VIENNA        57 

horrified  face  of  the  Empress  should  have 
warned  him  from  committing  a  further  error; 
but  he  was  always  quite  oblivious  to  atmo- 
spheres. He  turned  round  and,  with  a  rough 
shoulder  movement  that  was  visible  to  every- 
one on  the  platform,  he  actually  "shoved" — 
no  other  word  can  describe  the  movement — 
the  Princess  towards  the  young  Archduke.  The 
Princess,  well  used  to  her  father's  abrupt 
manners,  smiled  at  the  young  Archduke,  who 
rose  to  the  occasion  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the 
traditions  of  his  family,  which  is  celebrated  for 
its  fine  manners.  But  Kaiser  Wilhelm's  matri- 
monial plans  had  failed  before  they  were  really 
made.  All  the  women  were  against  it.  The 
Habsburgs  objected  to  the  presence  of  a  Pro- 
testant in  their  midst  even  though  she  might  for- 
sake her  religion.  They  knew  that  anything  so 
foreign  to  themselves  could  never  preside  at  the 
Court  of  Vienna.  Their  opinion  was  shared  by 
their  guest,  who  hated  the  gloomy  Hofburg,  and 
cared  but  little  for  Schonbrunn,  where  the  strict 
etiquette  rendered  the  mother  of  the  future  heir 
to  the  throne  a  mere  puppet  in  the  hands  of 
attendants,  who  would  not  even  allow  her  to 
educate  or  control  the  destinies  of  her  children. 
Princess  Louise  put  a  final  seal  upon  any  pos- 
sibility of  negotiations  being  renewed  by  her 


58  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

very  decided  conduct  during  the  subsequent 
proceedings.  Vienna  was  full  of  stories  of  the 
strong-mindedness  of  the  Kaiser's  only  daugh- 
ter. It  had  had  experience  of  strong-minded 
Princesses  in  the  past.  It  wished  for  nothing 
more  of  the  same  kind.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  had 
lost. 

Baulked  in  his  matrimonial  schemes,  he  now 
turned  to  the  political  situation.  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  was  irritable.  The  visit, 
although  on  a  much  smaller  scale  than  had  been 
originally  planned,  cost  him  much  money,  and, 
though  he  had  been  extremely  generous  in  his 
youth,  the  Emperor  had  become  strangely  par- 
simonious in  his  old  age.  He  grudged  the 
great  expense  that  was  invariably  entailed  by 
the  Kaiser's  State  visits.  The  programme 
usually  included  some  expensive  outing. 
Sometimes  five  miles  of  road  had  to  be  im- 
proved up  to  the  royal  automobile  standard. 
At  another  time  Wilhelm  would  take  a  fancy 
to  go  shooting  after  his  stay  in  Vienna,  and 
could  not  be  induced  to  accept  the  simple  life 
that  was  the  joy  of  the  Emperor  of.  Austria 
when  among  the  peasants.  The  hunting-box, 
the  whole  forest,  had  to  be  brought  up  to  the 
standard  of  an  American  millionaire.  The 
Habsburgs,  whose  claim  to  rank  was  too  ancient 


KAISER   WILHELM   IN  VIENNA        59 

and  too  secure  to  need  any  artificial  pomp  to 
keep  it  up,  rode  through  the  deep  forests  on 
small,  hardy  ponies.  The  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many required  a  road,  and  insisted  upon  its 
being  cut  right  through  the  forest.  He  was 
never  secure  of  his  position.  Beyond  all  these 
minor  inconveniences  he  expected  to  be  treated 
with  the  utmost  ceremony,  and  considered  that 
it  was  incumbent  upon  the  frail  old  monarch 
in  Schonbrunn  to  fetch  him  at  the  railway 
station,  to  take  him  to  his  rooms  along  the 
chilly  corridors  of  Schonbrunn  Palace,  and  to 
expose  himself,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  in 
order  to  magnify  the  importance  of  his  guest. 
It  was  further  reported  in  Vienna  that  Kaiser 
Wilhelm,  ever  penurious,  had  come  to  borrow 
money  from  the  aged  Emperor — one  of  the 
richest  sovereigns  in  Europe,  if,  indeed,  not 
the  richest  of  all.  All  these  things  did  not 
endear  Emperor  Wilhelm  to  the  Viennese. 
They  showed  their  feelings  by  refusing  to  get 
out  the  best  bunting  and  by  cheering  their  Em- 
peror frantically  when  alone,  and  pointedly 
refraining  from  any  exhibition  of  enthusiasm 
when  the  visitors  passed.  The  people,  too, 
perhaps,  had  a  true  perception  of  what  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  sought,  and  recognised  that  he  was 
really  patronising  the  old  Emperor,  suggesting 


60  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

that  it  was  time  he  took  a  back  seat  in  a  dozen 
insidious  ways.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  hoped  Arch- 
duke Francis  Ferdinand  would  be  easy  to 
manage,  but  was  not  convinced  of  this.  Em- 
peror Francis  Joseph  watched  the  growing 
intimacy  between  his  heir  and  the  Kaiser  with 
great  misgivings.  He  knew  that  toils  were 
being  wound  round  the  Archduke,  who  believed 
that  he  could  accept  obligations  and  not  be 
called  upon  to  pay  for  them.  The  aged 
diplomatist  at  his  side  knew  better.  The  ex- 
perience of  three-quarters  of  a  century  had 
taught  him  the  true  inwardness  of  things.  It 
was  vain,  however,  to  utter  warnings.  He  was 
not  even  discreet.  When  in  a  fit  of  rage — such 
as  attacks  all  the  Habsburgswho  are  epileptic — 
nothing  was  sacred.  A  man  who  was  not  able 
to  control  himself  could  not  be  trusted  with 
secrets  that  might  imperil  Austria's  relations 
with  Germany.  Thus  things  drifted.  Ger- 
many obtained  increasing  power  in  Austrian 
councils ;  the  only  man  who  could  lay  a  restrain- 
ing hand  upon  his  heir  was  old  and  weary  and 
unwilling  for  anything  that  spelt  change  or 
unrest. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

AFFAIRS     IN     TURKEY 

It  was  clear  to  everyone  who  followed  the 
course  of  events  in  the  Near  East  that  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Turkish  Empire  was  at  hand. 
The  race  towards  ruin,  that  had  gone  on  slowly 
before  the  introduction  of  the  telegraph  and 
telephone,  now  began  to  suit  its  pace  to  the 
times.  Corruption  of  every  kind  was  the  order 
of  the  day  in  Turkey.  Nothing  could  be  ob- 
tained without  bribery.  Every  kind  of  enter- 
prise was  stopped  by  the  extortions  of  the  tax- 
gatherer.  Any  man  who  was  known  to  possess 
ready  money  was  plundered  by  corrupt  officials. 
The  system  of  land-tenure  prevented  the 
peasants  from  putting  any  money  into  improve- 
ments. The  great  mineral  wealth  in  Turkey 
and  the  subject  lands  could  not  be  touched,  for 
the  law  said  that  only  the  surface  of  the  land 
belonged  to  the  proprietor;  all  mining  rights 
remained  the  property  of  the   State.     Mining 


62  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

engineers  who  came  to  search  for  hidden 
wealth  were  murdered  by  the  peasants,  who 
feared  that  the  Government  would  confiscate 
their  land.  Men  who  went  down  to  Turkey 
to  do  business  always  spoke  of  the  necessity 
of  adopting  quite  other  methods  than  elsewhere. 
Money,  even  in  the  case  of  respectable  firms, 
was  not  kept  in  the  bank,  where  it  would  fetch 
interest,  but  distributed  among  a  number  of 
more  or  less  distant  relatives.  Thus  the 
stranger  had  no  means  of  discovering  whether 
his  customer  could  pay  or  could  not  pay.  The 
latter  always  had  a  clear  case  for  the  Courts, 
and  could  prove  absolute  penury  whether  the 
necessity  arose  in  connection  with  taxation  or 
with  a  tiresome  customer.  At  the  same  time 
all  business  there  was  done  on  the  credit  system. 
The  European  agent,  therefore,  never  dealt 
direct,  but  depended  upon  the  local  agent,  who 
had  a  profound  and  up-to-date  knowledge  of 
his  customer's  financial  standing.  The  fact 
that  no  man  could  be  forced  to  pay  made  trades- 
men very  honest,  and  the  Turk,  even  before 
the  revolution,  had  an  excellent  reputation  for 
uprightness  throughout  South-Eastern  Europe. 
"  The  Turk  is  a  gentleman ;  he  always  pays," 
they  said  in  Austria  and  in  Hungary.  Just  as 
large  transactions  were  carried  out  in  the  latter 


AFFAIRS   IN   TURKEY  68 

countries  without  the  interposition  of  any  legal 
man,  and  sums  running  into  thousands  passed 
from  hand  to  hand  in  small  notes  to  avoid 
the  heavy  stamp  duty,  so  the  Turk  trans- 
acted business  without  documents,  always 
keeping  to  his  word.  The  Austrian  and 
German  agent  who  overran  Turkey  and 
dumped  his  least  marketable  goods  upon  the 
people,  felt  he  was  dealing  with  a  kindred 
soul,  but,  to  avoid  all  risks,  he  fixed  his  prices 
to  allow  for  long  waiting,  and  also  to  cover  any 
unavoidable  bad  debts.  He  had  a  serious  com- 
petitor in  business  in  the  Balkans,  and  was 
gradually  being  routed  from  his  long-estab- 
lished haunts  by  the  Italian  "  drummer."  The 
Bohemian  textile  manufacturers  had  been 
accustomed  to  regard  Turkey  and  the  Balkans 
as  a  kind  of  dumping-ground  for  bales  of  goods 
that  had  not  "taken"  colour  properly  and  for 
wares  that  showed  some  deficiency.  The  arrival 
of  cases  of  excellent  wares  from  Milan  at  about 
two-thirds  of  the  price  of  the  Austrian  article 
naturally  damaged  their  market  very  consider- 
ably. It  is  certain  that  much  of  the  friction 
between  Austria-Hungary  and  Italy  was  due  to 
the  growing  keenness  of  competition  in  trade 
upon  the  Balkans,  and  just  at  this  period  it  was 
getting  very  active. 


64  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

Turkey  hung  thus,  like  an  over-ripe  pear,  the 
wasps  swarming  around  her,  her  Sultan  Abdul 
Hamid  committing  crimes  that  cried  to  heaven, 
when  the  news  reached  Vienna  that  the  Third 
Army  Corps  at  Salonica  was  marching  upon 
Constantinople.  The  revolution  and  the  deposi- 
tion of  Abdul  Hamid  were  accomplished  with 
a  celerity  that  gave  rise  to  the  suspicion  that 
Austria  knew  more  of  the  whole  affair  than  she 
chose  to  admit.  The  Austrian  Government 
made  desperate  efforts  to  keep  the  news  from 
getting  out  until  everything  was  accomplished, 
and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the  Young 
Turks  were  financed  by  the  Austrian  Govern- 
ment. It  is  equally  certain,  however,  that  the 
Young  Turks  chose  a  moment  that  suited  them- 
selves, and  had  not  consulted  Austria  as  to 
details  such  as  dates.  Austria  had  set  a  vast 
machine  in  motion,  and  could  only  stand  aghast 
at  the  completeness  of  the  success  of  the  rebels. 
It  was  not  what  she  intended.  With  the  open- 
ing of  a  Turkish  Parliament  many  questions 
that  might  have  drifted  indefinitely  became 
pressing.  The  chief  of  these  was  the  future  of 
Bosnia  and  Herzegowina.  Austria-Hungary 
had  occupied  these  lands.  For  many  years  she 
had  carried  on  a  rule  that  was  not  pleasing  to 
the  population,  formed  almost  exclusively  of 


AFFAIRS   IN   TURKEY  65 

Serbo-Croats,  who  wished  to  join  their  Servian 
neighbours  across  the  frontier.  With  what  the 
Austro-Hungarian  administrators  regarded  as 
singular  blindness,  they  felt  that  they  would 
prefer  the  very  progressive  rule  of  King  Peter 
to  the  retrogressive  government  of  subject- 
nations  by  the  Central  Power.  The  few 
Mohammedan  Albanians  in  Bosnia  were  con- 
tent with  the  existing  state  of  affairs,  which 
differed  little  from  that  under  Turkish  rule.  As 
they  were  merely  3  per  cent,  of  the  population, 
however,  they  were  of  minor  importance, 
although  men  of  prominent  position  in  most 
cases. 

The  establishment  of  the  Turkish  Constitu- 
tion changed  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs  as 
regards  Bosnia  and  Herzegowina.  The  coun- 
tries, although  occupied  by  Austria-Hungary, 
were  still  under  the  suzerainty  of  Turkey. 
They  would  have  the  right  to  send  deputies  to 
represent  them  at  the  new  Turkish  National 
Assembly.  If  this  were  permitted,  Austria  felt 
that  it  would  be  only  a  question  of  time  before 
she  was  called  upon  to  evacuate  the  annexed 
lands.  Turkey  might  become  regenerate.  She 
would,  then  exercise  the  leading  role  in  the 
Balkans  that  Austria  had  reserved  for  herself. 

Austria-Hungary    decided    that    it    was    the 

F 


66  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

moment  for  action.  Only  one  course  was  open 
to  her.  She  must  proclaim  the  annexation  of 
Bosnia-Herzegowina.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  was 
consulted  upon  the  advisability  of  this  step. 
He  said  that  the  step  must  be  taken  without 
warning.  It  must  come  upon  Europe  as  a  sur- 
prise. Other  countries  had  proclaimed  annexa- 
tions— why  not  Austria-Hungary? 

Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  bitterly  dis- 
approved of  Austria's  attention  being  turned  to 
the  East  intead  of  to  Italy.  His  influence  was 
at  a  very  low  ebb  at  this  particular  time.  Em- 
peror Francis  Joseph  had  regained  his  health. 
It  was  even  thought  that  the  robust  old  man 
might  outlive  the  heir  to  the  throne. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE  ANNEXATION 

The  proclamation  of  the  Annexation  of 
Bosnia  and  Herzegowina  in  1908,  with  the 
evacuation  of  the  Sanjak  as  a  compensation  to 
Turkey,  took  Europe  by  surprise.  The  general 
feeling  was  one  of  utter  astonishment,  that 
Austria-Hungary,  herself  far  along  the  road  to 
bankruptcy,  should  presume  to  annex  anything. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  any  one  realised  that  Ger- 
many stood  firm  behind  her  in  her  high-handed 
action.  Even  if  this  were  known  vaguely,  no 
one  was  aware  that  Germany  had  been  con- 
sulted, had  fathered  the  plan,  and  perhaps  even 
conceived  it  in  all  its  naked  unscrupulousness. 
When  the  spasm  of  astonishment  was  over  there 
was  a  loud  outcry.  Austria-Hungary  had 
"  torn  up "  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  in  violating 
Article  29.  An  army,  that  was  ready  for  the 
eventualities    that    the    country   shrewdly    sus- 

''  F    2 


68  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

pected  might  ensue,  was  hastily  thrown  upon 
the  Bosnian  frontier,  another  was  pushed  up 
towards  Russia.  Germany  also  despatched  a 
large  force  to  the  Russian  front.  The  country 
resounded  with  the  noise  and  confusion  of  a 
mobilisation,  for,  strange  to  say,  Austria-Hun- 
gary, although  aware  her  troops  would  be  re- 
quired, had  made  no  definite  preparations. 
Stories  of  Bohemian  regiments,  driven  into 
troop  trains  covered  by  their  officers'  revolvers, 
ran  like  wildfire  through  the  country.  Further 
reports  soon  proved  that  the  mobilisation  was 
simply  organised  confusion.  Germany  heard 
and  marked.  There  could  be  no  war  under 
such  conditions.  Meanwhile,  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  mobilisation  was  followed  by  rapid 
action  on  the  other  frontiers.  Russia  put  troops 
on  her  frontiers.  Servia,  feeling  concerned  for 
her  safety,  inceased  her  frontier  forces.  Count 
Aehrenthal,  besides  promising  to  evacuate  the 
Sanjak,  undertook  to  compensate  Turkey  finan- 
cially for  the  loss  of  her  provinces.  In  all  these 
arrangements  it  must  be  noted  that  Turkey  was 
never  consulted.  She  had  to  look  on  while  her 
territory  was  taken  away,  powerless  to  defend 
her  interests.  This  was  a  matter  of  quite 
secondary  interest  to  the  Great  Powers,  who 
simply  demanded  to  know  what  were  the  inten- 


THE   ANNEXATION  69 

tions  of  Austria-Hungary.  The  winter  of 
1908-09  was  spent  in  negotiation.  The  soldiers, 
carefully  provided  with  winter  clothing,  spent 
the  months  on  the  chilly  frontiers,  and 
pitiful  letters  of  complaint  of  the  severity 
of  the  Galician  and  Servian  climates 
reached  Vienna.  These  were  from  the 
common  soldiers,  whose  lot  has  always 
been  a  hard  one.  They  were  subjected  to  the 
severe  discipline  that  prevails  in  the  Prussian 
army,  but  whereas  the  Prussian  gets  his  full 
allowance  of  food-stuff  and  has  the  proper 
clothing  for  the  climate  at  the  end  of  October, 
the  Austrian  trooper  is,  as  often  as  not,  supplied 
with  ice-making  machines  in  December  and 
woollen  sleeping-sacks  in  July.  New  needs  that 
cropped  up  at  the  front  were  only  met  long  after 
the  cold  that  made  them  indispensable  had 
changed  to  spring-like  warmth  and  the  armies 
felt  the  inconveniences  of  an  inefficient  official- 
dom very  severely. 

The  young  officers  at  the  front,  who  were  well 
provided  with  money,  spent  a  healthy  winter. 
Ski-ing  was  one  of  the  chief  amusements ;  they 
brought  the  sport  back  to  Vienna,  where  it  had 
previously  been  something  of  a  novelty.  Other- 
wise the  social  life  of  the  people  was  but  little 
affected    by    the   diplomatic    trouble    that   was 


70  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

causing  such  perturbation  at  the  Ballplatz. 
There  was  some  complaining  at  the  scarcity  of 
men.  Vienna  hostesses  had  always  counted  on 
providing  each  girl  with  a  choice  of  partners; 
this  year  the  available  men  were  either  getting 
on  in  life  or  unduly  young,  as  the  mobilisation 
had  swept  up  the  rest.  Those  who  remained  at 
home,  too,  were  overworked,  and  could  not 
spend  their  days  in  semi-somnolence  in  the 
office  and  their  nights  in  the  whirling  activity  of 
the  ball-room.  It  was  only  a  year  later,  on 
returning  from  the  annual  holiday,  that  people 
began  to  notice  that  prices  had  gone  up.  The 
explanation  was  simple  enough.  The  army, 
after  the  unsuccessful  mobilisation  which  had 
revealed  all  kinds  of  deficiencies,  began  to  make 
numerous  demands.  The  guns  they  had  tested 
during  the  very  frequent  frontier  skirmishes 
whose  history  has  never  been  written  were  use- 
less. Much  of  the  ammunition  was  counter- 
feit. Stories  of  corruption  touching  even  the 
highest  officials  were  current.  Some  great  per- 
sonages were  dismissed  without  the  customary 
decoration,  the  Emperor  plainly  saying  that  he 
would  show  no  mercy  to  those  who  had 
betrayed  their  country.  The  excuse  that  they 
had  no  idea  that  a  war  was  perhaps  pending  did 
not  palliate  their  crime  in  the  eyes  of  the  aged 


THE   ANNEXATION  71 

Emperor,  who  is  a  soldier  far  excellence  in  all 
that  concerns  discipline  and  order. 

The  discovery  of  many  lacunae  and  "  dis- 
crepancies" in  the  service  made  Austria-Hun- 
gary herself  chary  of  going  to  war.  When  the 
chance  of  a  compromise  came  she  was  ready  to 
take  it.  This  was  the  easier  for  her,  as  Ger- 
many, who  was  prepared  for  a  world-war  in  the 
month  of  October,  absolutely  refused  to  back 
Austria-Hungary  in  an  adventurous  policy  in 
December.  The  reason  was  plain.  Germany 
and  her  Emperor  had  believed  all  the  reports 
they  had  received  of  Austria's  readiness ;  it  was 
only  when  they  saw  how  the  mobilisation  hung 
fire,  and  realised  how  unwilling  her  men — 
especially  those  belonging  to  the  subject  races — 
were  to  fight,  that  they  saw  they  had  been 
deceived,  not  intentionally,  but  by  the  differ- 
ence between  what  the  Austrians  believed  and 
the  actual  state  of  affairs.  Kaiser  Wilhelm 
began  to  see  for  the  first  time  that  he  could  not 
take  the  Emperor's  word  for  things ;  not  that  the 
aged  man  had  the  faintest  intent  to  deceive  him, 
but  simply  that  he  lived  in  a  world  created  by  his 
courtiers,  and  existed  in  the  atmosphere  preva- 
lent at  Courts  a  century  ago.  His  councillors, 
old  men  like  himself,  never  told  the  Emperor 
anything  unpleasant.     If  they  believed  that  he 


72  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

did  not  wish  to  hear  it,  the  truth  was  carefully 
concealed.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  Emperor 
ever  knew  of  the  discontent  in  the  ranks  of  the 
army. 

Kaiser  Wilhelm  had  but  small  difficulty  in 
holding  back  the  politicians  who  sat  in  Vienna 
and  appreciated  his  arguments.  Modern  wars, 
said  the  Kaiser,  cannot  be  waged  without  muni- 
tions and  money.  Austria-Hungary  had 
numbers  of  men,  but  her  munitions  were  of 
ancient  pattern ;  her  guns  were  not  fit  for  active 
service.  Wealth  she  possessed  in  plenty,  as 
Austria-Hungary  is  a  rich  country,  but  it  was 
not  realised.  It  was  all  invested  in  lands, 
machinery,  and  other  plant.  Her  subjects  were 
not  accustomed  to  direct  taxation  to  any  extent. 
The  military  party  could  not  grasp  these  argu- 
ments. 

A  great  nation  ought  not  to  stoop  to  nego- 
tiate, it  said.  Why  should  they  hesitate  when 
their  army  was  over  two  millions  strong? 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  during  the  negotia- 
tions no  one  mentioned  the  really  salient  point 
in  so  many  words,  nor  asked,  "  By  what  right 
had  Germany,  through  Austria,  arrogated  to 
herself  the  power  to  disturb  the  peace  of  Europe 
and  to  steal  a  march  upon  her  neighbours  in  the 
night?"     Neither  country  has  ever  advanced  a 


THE   ANNEXATION  73 

reason  to  excuse  this  action.  The  first  cause  was 
doubtless  Kaiser  Wilhelm.  In  the  plenitude  of 
his  arrogance,  which  made  him  consider  himself 
beyond  all  human  laws,  he  regarded  the  rights 
and  wishes  of  others  as  entirely  negligible  quan- 
tities where  the  greatness  of  the  German 
Empire,  which  meant  his  greatness,  was  con- 
cerned. Every  German  child  was  taught  that 
Germany  should  be  supreme  over  all.  In  the 
schools  they  learnt  that  nothing,  not  even  truth 
or  justice,  could  be  allowed  to  interfere  with 
Germany's  commercial  progress.  The  young 
men  who  stole  into  Italy  or  Bohemia  as  clerks 
and  took  copies  of  the  names  of  customers  for 
the  use  of  their  countrymen,  were  not  considered 
thieves  in  the  usual  sense.  They  were  simply 
German  patriots ;  men  who  had  been  reared  from 
childhood  to  consider  that  the  old  standards  had 
fallen,  and  a  new  German  philosophy  had  taken 
its  place.  This  teaching  had  one  object,  and 
one  only,  the  g^grandisement  of  Germany. 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  was  at  the  head  of  this  move- 
ment. He  regarded  the  other  nations  as  effete 
and  degenerate.  They  had  no  right  to  block  the 
way  of  the  Prussians,  who  were  a  reincarnation 
of  the  Goths  of  old,  and  who  would  sweep  every- 
thing before  them.  Prussians  of  high  standing 
were  not  backward  in  expounding  this  theory. 


74  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

The  other  German  races  murmured  at  the 
"  unscrupulousness  "  of  the  Prussian.  They  felt 
that  men  of  this  character  were  dangerous,  and 
that  they  ought  not  to  be  entrusted  with  the 
supreme  Command  in  the  Empire.  Austria- 
Hungary,  meanwhile,  chafed  at  the  bit  that  she 
was  beginning  to  feel.  After  all  the  delicate 
questions  had  been  settled  and  the  terms  of  the 
agreement  arranged,  her  statesmen  sighed  and 
said  :  "  This  has  been  a  mistake,  we  ought  to 
have  gone  to  war." 

Statesmen  saw  that  they  had  placed  them- 
selves too  unreservedly  in  Germany's  hands. 
Peace,  too,  had  been  preserved  by  unusual 
means.  When  things  had  reached  a  very  critical 
stage,  the  aged  Emperor  Francis  Joseph 
stemmed  the  current  that  was  carrying  the 
country  towards  war.  He  let  it  be  known  that 
he  objected  to  the  peace  being  broken.  He 
wished  to  end  his  days  in  tranquillity.  Such 
respect  was  felt  for  the  Emperor  that  this  was 
sufficient  to  turn  the  scale  in  favour  of  peace. 
Austrian  statesmen,  however,  were  encouraged 
in  an  irresponsible  feeling  that  they  might  go  to 
great  lengths  in  threatening  war  without  being 
called  upon  to  back  up  their  threats  by  action. 
The  Austro-Hungarian  supreme  War  Lord 
could  save  the  situation  by  a  word.     Germany 


THE   ANNEXATION  75 

could  prevent  things  reaching  a  climax  if  the 
Emperor's  petition  for  peace  were  not  sufficient. 
These  ideas  were  radically  wrong.  The 
Emperor  tacitly  undertook  not  to  break  the 
peace  again  when  he  made  his  appeal.  It  is 
certain  that  he  never  intended  to  do  so.  But  this 
should  have  hampered  his  statesmen.  It  did 
not.  Instead  of  feeling  that  the  Emperor's 
pledge  to  Europe  laid  a  responsibility  upon 
them,  they,  on  the  contrary,  felt  that  their  acts 
were  always  liable  to  be  disavowed  by  the 
monarch,  and  that  they  were  not  forced  to  show 
the  same  caution  as  they  would  if  their  decisions 
were  final.  In  the  same  way,  they  failed  to 
realise  that  Germany  would  inevitably  demand 
compensation  for  her  protection.  The  noblemen 
who  held  the  helm  in  Vienna  were  not  a  match 
for  the  calculating  business  men  who  were  pur- 
suing a  "  real  "  policy  at  Berlin,  and  who  had 
little  to  do  with  ideals. 


CHAPTER  X 

PRINCE  EGON  FURSTENBERG  AND  COUNT  TCHIRSKY. 
HOW  THE   KAISER   "  WORKED  "   VIENNA 

Kaiser  Wilhelm  had  the  good  sense  to  keep 
away  from  Vienna  during  the  time  of  the 
annexation  crisis.  Very  few  knew  the  extent  of 
his  influence  in  the  Austrian  capital,  nor  had 
they  any  idea  how  it  was  exercised.  The 
Kaiser  was  always  well  informed  of  everything 
that  was  happening  in  Austria,  and  obtained  his 
knowledge  by  attaching  personages  like  Max 
Egon  Fiirstenberg  to  his  person.  The  Kaiser 
never  selected  a  friend  except  for  the  advance- 
ment of  his  own  ends.  Prince  Max,  who  had  the 
position  of  a  reigning  sovereign,  without  the  work 
or  responsibilities  that  were  formerly  attached 
to  the  title  and  possessions,  had  the  entree  to  all 
the  most  exclusive  houses  in  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary.  Here  he  shared  State  secrets 
that  it  was  given  only  to  very  few  to  know. 

76 


PRINCE   EGON   FURSTENBERG         77 

Kaiser  Wilhelm  was  quick  to  see  the  advantage 
of  attaching  such  a  man  to  his  side.  The  Prince 
was  flattered  by  the  monarch's  notice,  and  never 
thought  that  casual  remarks  that  he  let  fall  were 
treasured  up  by  his  Royal  host.  The  German 
Kaiser  and  the  Prince  even  speculated  in  stocks 
and  shares  together,  financed  companies,  and 
indulged  in  business  that  was  quite  legitimate 
for  the  wealthy  Prince,  who  could  afford  to  lose 
heavily,  but  very  dangerous  for  a  monarch 
whose  purse  was  always  exhausted. 

Prince  Max,  who  is  easy-going  and  good- 
humoured,  cared  little  for  his  failures,  but 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  lost  prestige  with  his  people 
through  his  financial  transactions.  Prince  Max 
was  very  irresponsible  in  many  ways.  Like  many 
other  Austrians,  he  failed  to  see  that  his  country 
was  on  the  edge  of  a  volcano.  Things  had 
always  settled  themselves  before,  and  they 
would  again,  he  thought.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
he  realised  that  he  was  a  mere  tool  in  the  hands 
of  the  Kaiser,  and  even  if  he  did  so,  his  sardonic 
coQtempt  of  life  made  him  indifferent  to  the  un- 
patriotic role  that  he  was  playing  in  giving  away 
his  country's  secrets  to  her  worst  enemy.  Intel- 
ligent and  well-versed  in  the  traditions  of  his 
family  that  has  produced  so  many  famous  men, 
it  is  probable  that  Prince  Max  could  have  saved 


78  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

Austria  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Ger- 
mans had  he  realised  what  was  happening. 
Unfortunately,  he  was  too  much  occupied  in 
pursuing  the  latest  craze  of  the  moment  to  think 
of  serious  matters.  Under  his  charming  manners 
he  possessed  a  certain  acumen,  but  was  inclined 
to  think  the  Germans  were  guided  by  the  same 
motives  as  he  was  himself.  The  over-civilised, 
over-polished  man  of  the  world  fell  an  easy 
prey  to  the  cold,  calculating  monarch  on  the 
other  side  of  the  frontier. 

Prince  Max  Egon  Fiirstenberg  was  one  type 
of  the  Kaiser's  familiars.  Count  Tchirsky, 
the  German  Ambassador  at  Vienna,  was  the  pro- 
totype of  the  others.  The  German  Ambassador 
in  Vienna  was  the  doyen  of  the  Diplomatic 
Corps.  Cold-blooded,  calculating,  deep,  he  was 
the  very  embodiment  of  the  Kaiser's  ideal  poli- 
tician. Tchirsky  did  not  know  what  scruples 
meant,  and  his  many  years'  experience  of  the 
Court  of  Vienna  enabled  him  to  put  his  fingers 
upon  every  weakness  there.  He  saw  only  the 
defects  and  missed  much  that  was  fine  in  the 
character  of  the  men  with  whom  he  had  to  deal. 
They  spoke  of  him  as  the  "  Old  Spider  "  of  the 
Metternichgasse,  where  he  had  his  palace.  He 
did  not  play  a  leading  role  in  society;  visitors  to 
Vienna  knew  but  little  about  him,  if  indeed  they 


Prince  Max  Egon   Furstenberg. 


PRINCE   EGON   FURSTENBERG         79 

realised  his  existence  at  all.  He  carried  on  a 
bitter  warfare  against  the  members  of  the  diplo- 
matic body  who  tried  to  oppose  the  Triple 
Alliance.  His  machinations  were  less  openly, 
but  none  the  less  fiercely,  directed  against  Italy, 
the  nominal,  but  unwilling,  ally  of  the  Central 
Empires.  Tchirsky,  a  man  of  dark  plots, 
contrived  to  acquire  interest  in  one  of  the  lead- 
ing Vienna  papers.  This  interest  developed 
into  the  effective  control  of  the  organ.  He  was 
able,  thus,  under  the  guise  of  a  newspaper 
attack,  to  render  Vienna  almost  intolerable  for 
any  diplomatist  whose  presence  he  considered 
detrimental  to  the  welfare  of  Germany.  When 
the  Emperor  "  conspicuously  turned  his  back 
upon  the  Russian  military  attache  "  at  a  Court 
ball,  the  fact  was  recorded  with  great  gusto  in 
Tchirsky's  paper.  The  attache,  who  was 
compromised  in  a  spy  case,  would  have  left 
Vienna  by  the  first  train  on  the  morrow  in  any 
case.  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  was  a  soldier 
and  no  courtier,  and  when  he  turned  his  back 
upon  a  foreigner  there  was  no  mistaking  the 
action.  It  was  done  squarely  and  openly.  The 
record  of  the  German-owned  Press  did  not  im- 
prove the  strained  relations  between  Russia  and 
Austria-Hungary,  for  the  fact  that  Germany 
directed  the  paper's  policy  was  an  open  secret. 


80  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

A  pro-English  American  Ambassador  was  sub- 
jected to  attacks  of  a  kind  that  could  only  be 
conceived  by  the  fertile  brain  of  Count 
Tchirsky.  The  Ambassador  was  accused  of 
being  parsimonious,  and  his  personal  habits  were 
described  with  an  acrimony  that  showed  he  had 
a  powerful  enemy.  The  coarseness  of  the  lan- 
guage used,  too,  exposed  the  source ;  only  a  Prus- 
sian could  employ  such  machinations  against 
an  enemy.  How  the  Austrians,  who  prided  them- 
selves on  their  hospitality  and  their  courtesy  to 
strangers,  could  allow  such  an  attack  to  appear 
can  only  be  explained  by  the  growing  helpless- 
ness of  their  statesmen  when  confronted  by  the 
powerful  German.  Tchirsky  further  distin- 
guished himself  by  making  an  attack  through 
the  Press  upon  the  wife  of  the  British  Ambas- 
sador. How  far  he  was  responsible  for  the 
famous  Cartwright  interview  it  is  difficult  to  say. 
The  blow,  it  was  known  at  the  time,  came  from 
Germany.  Austrians  might  have  listened  to  a 
private  conversation  at  a  table  in  Marienbad, 
and  put  the  words  uttered  by  various  members 
of  the  British  Colony  into  shape  as  their  views 
upon  the  Morocco  question,  but  it  needed  the 
unscrupulousness  of  a  German  to  conceive  the 
plan  of  putting  the  pronouncements  into  the 
mouth  of  the  British  Ambassador.      The  latter 


PRINCE  EGON  FURSTENBERG         81 

was  too  astonished  by  the  impertinence  of  the 
act  to  realise  what  it  meant.  Indeed,  it  is  pos- 
sible that  the  Ambassador's  indignant  denials  of 
ever  having  entered  into  any  discussion  with  the 
man  who  claimed  to  have  obtained  the  interview 
were  suppressed  like  many  other  items  of  news 
and  facts.  The  only  denial  that  did  appear  was 
late  and  inadequate.  The  British,  bound  by 
traditions,  never  even  suspected  that  German 
diplomacy  could  resort  to  such  means  for  gain- 
ing an  advantage.  No  one  realised  their  abso- 
lute deadness  to  all  sense  of  morality.  When 
Count  Tchirsky  did  sally  forth  from  his 
chilly  palace  in  Vienna,  it  was  to  compass  the 
undoing  of  the  frivolous  Austrians.  He  would 
exact  the  payment  of  a  pledge,  given 
over  wine.  Bargains,  made  in  the  ball- 
room, were  reduced  next  morning  to 
writing,  then  stored  away  among  the  archives 
at  Berlin,  and  the  carrying  out  of  the  conditions 
— conditions  favourable  to  Germany  and  disas- 
trous to  Austria — would  be  exacted  with  the 
cruelty  and  callousness  of  a  Prussian  politician. 
Had"  Tchirsky  himself  hung  back,  there  were 
others  to  egg  him  on.  The  ideal  condition  of  a 
Europe  in  which  Germany  was  supreme  must 
be  realised.  Any  remnants  of  conscience  that 
Tchirsky    might     have     possessed     had    long 


82  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

been  stifled  by  intercourse  with  his  Imperial 
master,  who  regarded  himself  as  far  above  all 
moral  law.  He  was  the  supreme  War  Lord. 
His  word  had  established  a  new  morality  quite 
different  from  that  generally  accepted.  The 
military  training  enjoyed  by  almost  all  Germans 
made  them  the  more  ready  to  accept  this 
point  of  view.  Discipline,  enforced  until  the 
power  of  independent  reflection  has  been 
lost  through  want  of  use,  relieved  them 
of  the  necessity  of  considering  the  morality 
of  their  acts.  The  hymns  of  praise  of 
Germany's  successful  policy,  sung  by 
philosophers  and  by  the  pastors  of  religion, 
who  were  foremost,  as  usual,  in  advocating  the 
policy  of  expediency  that  Germany  might  be 
exalted,  lulled  any  scruples  felt  by 
Tchirsky's  subordinates.  He,  himself  a  sur- 
vival of  a  former  age,  was  incapable  of  imagin- 
ing anything  of  the  kind.  Truth  was  what  the 
supreme  lord  decreed  to  be  truth.  Honesty  was 
merely  another  word  for  expediency.  The  Am- 
bassador was  surrounded  by  a  number  of  men, 
with  no  reputation  to  lose,  who  brought  him 
news  of  every  fresh  turn  of  events  in  Austria- 
Hungary.  They  cared  little  that  they  were 
betraying  their  country  to  a  hard  taskmaster. 
The  present  benefits  of  a  flourishing  banking 


PRINCE   EGON   FURSTENBERG        88 

account  were  ample  compensation  for  their 
treachery.  These  causes  all  combined  to  render 
Tchirsky  the  least  popular  man  in  Vienna. 
When  his  name  was  mentioned,  every  tongue 
was  suddenly  frozen  into  silence.  Was  the 
inquirer  a  spy  ?  Did  he  wish  to  sound  the  secret 
feelings  of  someone  present.'*  The  Viennese 
felt  a  distrust  that  was  rather  instinctive  than 
realised.  It  was  the  premonition  of  the  closing 
of  the  brutal  hand  of  German  power  upon  the 
crowd  of  gay  butterflies  on  the  banks  of  the 
Danube. 


a  2 


CHAPTER    XI 

.THE    "great    SERVIA"    IDEA SERVIAN 

ORGANISATION 

While  Austria-Hungary,  with  Germany  be- 
hind her,  was  discussing  the  tearing  up  of  the 
Treaty  of  Berlin  with  the  rest  of  Europe,  both 
Powers  failed  to  observe  developments  that 
were  taking  place  under  their  very  eyes.  The 
Austro-Hungarian  official  sent  off  to  Bosnia  or 
Croatia  cared  very  little  about  the  people  en- 
trusted to  him.  His  one  and  only  idea  was  to 
scheme  and  plan  until  he  obtained  his  move  to 
Vienna.  He  took  no  means  to  detect  and  watch 
the  conspiracies  against  the  Government  that 
were  being  constantly  hatched  in  the  cafes  of  the 
town  where  he  lived.  In  a  fit  of  sudden  and 
uncalled-for  energy,  he  would  make  a  search  for 
cups  and  saucers  decorated  with  the  Serb 
colours  or  vindictively  punish  the  parents  of  a 
small  child  for  permitting  her  to  wear  a  Serb 

S4 


THE   "GREAT  SERVIA  "   IDEA  85 

sash  round  her  waist,  instead  of  a  simple  piece 
of  ribbon.  This  unexpected  activity  naturally 
raised  the  wrath  of  the  Serbo-Croats,  the  more 
so  because  really  seditious  acts  frequently 
escaped  notice,  or,  if  the  administrators  knew 
about  thern,  they  avoided  taking  cognisance  of 
them,  as  it  meant  the  opening  up  of  large  ques- 
tions and  much  trouble  with  the  central  authori- 
ties in  Vienna.  Thus  the  Serbs,  who  lived 
under  Austrian  or  Hungarian  rule,  were  often 
permitted  to  go  to  great  lengths  without  any 
interference.  The  sudden  swoops  of  an  enraged 
magistrate,  who  took  action  rather  because  the 
plotters  had  interfered  with  his  personal  conve- 
nience than  because  it  was  really  incumbent 
upon  him  to  do  so,  produced  a  feeling  of  in- 
security among  the  subject  races.  They  regarded 
the  local  governor  somewhat  in  the  light  of  a 
dangerous  but  slumbering  beast,  and  they 
prayed  that  his  slumber  might  continue  undis- 
turbed. Some,  however,  went  the  length  of  try- 
ing to  twist  his  tail,  when  they  knew  that  he  had 
been  sent  to  the  provinces  in  disgrace,  as  was 
generally  the  case.  If  a  man  had  been  exiled  for 
more  serious  offences  than  uncouthness  of 
manner,  or  a  failure  to  respond  to  the  friendly 
advances  of  the  chief's  elderly  wife,  and  her 
invitation  to  shine  at  her  somewhat  monotonous 


86  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

afternoon  teas,  the  Serbs,  who  were  always  well- 
posted  in  the  reasons  that  led  to  an  official  being 
sent  to  the  provinces,  felt  that  he  was  not.  in  a 
position  to  injure  them  without  damaging  him- 
self, and  behaved  accordingly.  The  eight  million 
Young  Slavs,  as  they  call  themselves,  under  the 
dominion  of  Austria  or  of  Hungary  have  always 
been  well  organised.  When  one  of  their  number 
arrives  at  either  Vienna  or  Budapesth  he  calls 
round  at  his  Union.  Although  he  may  not  know 
a  single  word  of  German  or  Hungarian, 
the  society  find  him  a  job.  Accustomed  to  heavy 
labour,  the  Serb  or  Croat  is  much  sought  after, 
especially  in  the  lower  ranks  of  service.  Time 
goes  by,  the  man-servant  or  maid-servant  has 
learnt  the  language  and  is  firmly  established  in 
the  household.  There  is  trouble  in  the  home 
because  of  the  failure  of  a  German  tailor  to  keep 
his  word.  The  Slav  servant  has  a  relative  who 
is  willing  to  undertake  the  job,  although  it  is 
nearly  midnight.  He  is  hastily  fetched,  and  by 
the  advice  of  his  friend  within  the  camp  fixes  his 
charges  a  trifle  below  those  asked  by  the  Ger- 
man. He  remains  master  of  the  situation,  the 
German  being  ousted.  Gradually  the  household 
needs  are  supplied  by  Slavs,  who  carry  out 
orders  promptly  and  carefully,  and  have  none 
of  the  supercilious  "  take  it  or  leave  it "  manner 


THE   "GREAT   SERVIA "    IDEA  87 

of  the  German  purveyor.  The  Austrians  always 
say  "  Let  one  Slav  into  the  house,  and  they  rule 
the  ingoings  and  outgoings  for  the  future." 

The  Slav  is  always  an  enigma,  which  years  of 
close  intercourse  cannot  solve.  His  aspirations, 
his  outlook  on  life  are  a  sealed  book  to  the  West 
European.  The  all-pervading  and  very  distinct 
impression  which  remains  is  that  the  Slavs  have 
very  distinct  national  aims,  which  they  are  pre- 
pared to  pursue  with  an  utter  persistence  and 
ruthlessness,  of  which  no  other  peoples  are 
capable. 

Just  at  this  period  the  Young  Slavs  within  the 
Austro-Hungarian  realm  were  making  a  deter- 
mined effort  for  liberation.  They  felt,  and  felt 
justly,  that  they  were  oppressed.  They  thirsted 
for  education  and  paid  large  taxes  to  secure  that 
same  education  in  order  to  enable  their  children 
to  take  their  places  as  equals  with  the  dominant 
races.  Austria  and  Hungary  both  dreaded  the 
rise  of  the  Slavs,  and  restricted  their  education 
as  much  as  possible,  devoting  the  funds  voted 
for  the  purpose  to  other  objects. 

Things  were  so  bad  in  this  respect  that  a  com- 
mission was  sent  over  from  the  States  to  ascer- 
tain how  it  could  be  possible  at  this  date  in  the 
civilisation  of  the  world  that  such  a  large  pro- 
portion   of    emigrants   to  America   should   be 


88  SEVEN   YEARS   IN   VIENNA 

illiterate.  In  some  provinces  it  appeared  from 
the  Government  statistics  that  69  per  cent,  of  the 
annual  recruits  could  neither  write  nor  read.  The 
lack  of  education  was  most  felt  among  the  Serbs, 
Croats,  Poles  and  Little  Russians.  The  Slavs, 
who  possess  an  uncommon  amount  of  common- 
sense,  felt  that  this  withholding  of  education  was 
immoral,  and  that  it  served  some  deep  ulterior 
purpose.  The  Bohemians,  who  inhabited  a  rich 
manufacturing  district,  by  force  of  much  agita- 
tion, were  able  to  enforce  their  demands  for 
education.  The  Poles  were  miserably  neglected, 
their  representatives  who  attended  the  Vienna 
Parliament  were  feted  and  made  much  of,  and, 
aristocrats  themselves  for  the  most  part,  they 
were  easily  persuaded  to  forget  the  wrongs  of 
their  people  at  home.  In  the  Bukowina  the 
people  were  on  a  low  level,  and  hardly  realised 
their  position.  In  Croatia,  Dalmatia,  and 
especially  in  Bosnia,  things  were  different.  Italy 
was  close  by,  and  the  Slavs  learnt  how  things 
were  managed  in  that  very  progressive  and 
modern  State.  Servia  and  Montenegro  were 
governed  on  lines  that  contented  the  peopjes 
there,  and  the  Serbs  across  the  frontier  felt  that 
they  would  be  better  under  the  rule  of  King 
Peter  than  subject  to  a  governor  who  was  so  far 
from  the  centre  that  he  could  practically  deal 


THE   "GREAT  SERVIA "   IDEA         89 

with  them  as  he  pleased.  It  was  seldom  that 
the  governor  really  understood  the  vernacular. 
Being  entirely  German  in  his  sympathies,  he 
naturally  felt  no  interest  in  the  Slav  aspirations, 
except  a  desire  to  crush  them.  While  Vienna 
was  using  up  her  strength  in  arguing  with 
Europe,  the  Slavs  considered  that  their  opportu- 
nity had  come  for  the  establishment  of  a  vast 
Slav  Empire,  consisting  of  all  the  countries  in- 
habited by  Slavs  in  Southern  Austria  and 
Hungary,  which  was  to  be  placed  under  the  rule 
of  the  King  of  Servia. 

Negotiations  for  a  union  between  Monte- 
negro and  Servia,  for  the  establishment  of  a 
common  customs  tariff,  a  common  army,  and  for 
the  pursuance  of  a  common  foreign  policy,  were 
being  carried  on.  Servia  hoped  to  extend  her 
territory  to  the  sea.  Whether  she  thought  to 
incorporate  the  Slavs  of  Austria  and  Hungary 
among  her  people  is  difficult  to  say,  but  she,  like 
the  rest  of  South-Eastern  Europe,  was  aware 
that  Austria-Hungary  was  rotten  to  the  core.  It 
must  in  the  near  future  follow  Turkey  and 
share  its  fate.  As  events  move  much  more 
quickly  to-day  in  the  epoch  of  telegrams  and 
railways  than  they  did  in  the  period  of  coaches 
and  couriers,  a  much  more  rapid  dissolution  of 
the  Empire  was  to  be  expected  than  in  the  case 


90  SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

of  Turkey  that  had  been  tottering  for  centuries. 
While  the  Austrian  and  Hungarian  Slavs  were 
looking  to  King  Peter  to  deliver  them 
from  Austrian  and  Hungarian  tyranny,  Austria 
was  intriguing,  and  encouraging  the  Serbs  in 
Servia  to  rebel.  She  had  as  little  success  with 
the  Serbs  as  with  the  Italians  across  the  Italian 
frontier,  as  both  peoples  are  ardently  patriotic, 
and  even  the  poorest  scorned  Austrian  gold. 
The  determination  of  the  Young  Slavs  to  live 
under  the  rule  of  a  monarch  of  their  own  race 
became  strengthened  at  every  fresh  proof  of  the 
effeteness  of  Austro-Hungarian  rule.  Them- 
selves strong  and  virile,  they  felt  that  they  re- 
quired administrators  who  could  deal  with  the 
problems  that  came  to  them  for  settlement  in  the 
rough-and-ready  manner  peculiar  to  the  other 
side  of  the  border ;  they  had  always  completely 
misunderstood  the  shelving  of  petitions,  the 
cumbersome  multiplication  of  documents,  pecu- 
liar to  Austro-Hungarian  officialdom.  Rapid 
justice,  even  if  less  correct  in  the  matter  of  form, 
was  preferable,  they  felt,  to  the  long  and  un- 
profitable dilatoriness  of  the  proceedings  under 
an  administration  more  especially  careless  in 
dealings  with  things  that  concerned  people 
living  far  from  the  capital. 

Austria-Hungary  heard  but  little  of  the  grow- 


THE   "GREAT  SERVIA"    IDEA        91 

ing  discontent  in  her  outlying  provinces.  Assas- 
sinations and  attempts  on  the  lives  of  adminis- 
trators multiplied,  but  the  rulers  in  Vienna,  busy 
with  things  nearer  home,  simply  suggested 
"  that  a  heavier  weight  should  be  placed  upon 
the  safety-valve."  After  an  outrage  some  few- 
ringleaders  were  hanged,  half  a  dozen  news- 
papers suppressed,  and  then  the  incident  was 
put  away  with  other  events  of  grave  portent, 
signs  of  the  times  which,  however,  were  not 
allowed  to  disturb  the  gaiety  of  the  capital. 


CHAPTER  XII 

ALBANIA    AND    MACEDONIA 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  the  complete  in- 
difference with  which  the  growth  of  the  Great 
Servian  idea  was  regarded  in  Vienna.  Eight 
million  Serbo-Croats  under  Austro-Hungarian 
rule  were  eager  to  join  forces  with  their  brothers 
across  the  frontier,  five  million  Serbs  and  Mon- 
tenegrins. Whether  the  indifference  manifested 
at  Vienna  was  owing  to  the  attitude  of  super- 
cilious contempt  of  what  was  going  on  around 
them  which  was  generally  adopted  by  Austro- 
German  officials,  or  whether  they  were  really 
ignorant  of  the  extent  of  the  movement,  it  is 
difficult  to  say.  It  is  possible  that  politicians, 
who  did  reflect  upon  the  very  evident  increase 
of  disaffection  in  the  South,  merely  regarded  it 
as  an  indication  that  the  small  Germano- 
Austrian  and  Magyar  minorities  must  throw  in 
their  lot  with  Germany.  Certainly  the  relative 
numbers  of  Germans  and  Czechs,  of  Maygars 

92 


ALBANIA  AND   MACEDONIA  93 

and  Serbs  were  most  alarming.  Officials  in  high 
places  naturally  judged  the  position  more  accu- 
rately than  could  the  man  in  the  street,  because 
the  published  statistics  giving  their  relative  num- 
bers of  Germano-Austrians  and  Czechs,  of 
Serbo-Croats  and  Magyars,  were  always  mani- 
pulated to  such  an  extent  that  they  were,  quite 
useless  for  scientific  purposes.  Another  set  of 
correct  figures  was  kept  for  the  purposes  of  ad- 
ministration. With  an  insolent  disregard  of  her 
complete  lack  of  success  in  ruling  the  Serbo- 
Croats,  Austria-Hungary  not  only  added  more 
millions  to  her  realm  by  annexing  Bosnia  and 
Herzegowina,  but  she  now  embarked  on  new 
schemes  of  annexation  and  colonisation. 

New  Turkey  had  less  vitality  than  the  old 
ruin  that  had  just  crumbled  to  pieces.  The 
Young  Turks,  when  asked  why  they  had  not 
seized  their  opportunity  of  securing  the  benefits 
they  so  much  desired,  which  had  been  within 
their  grasp,  said  sadly  that  appearances  were 
deceptive.  There  had  never  been  a  chance  of 
regeneration  for  the  country.  The  same  power 
which  had  promoted  the  revolution  had  cor- 
rupted the  new  Parliament — German  money. 
Austrian  interference  had  rendered  them  mere 
puppets  in  the  hands  of  unscrupulous  Germans. 
They  had  not  realised  this  until  too  late.    They 


94  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

had  merely  delivered  their  country  over  to  a 
worse  foe  than  Abdul  Hamid,  who,  whatever  his 
vices  and  faults  might  have  been,  acted  in  his 
own  interests  and  in  the  interests  of  Turkey. 
Germany  had  encouraged  the  revolution  merely 
to  precipitate  the  final  ruin  of  Turkey.  She  now 
thought  that  the  moment  for  dissolution  could 
not  be  postponed.  Austria,  acting  for  her,  pro- 
claimed the  fact  of  Turkey's  disintegration  upon 
the  housetops,  and  suggested  that  Albania  and 
Macedonia  should  be  made  autonomous.  The 
proposal  sounded  fair  and  just.  Everyone  knew 
that  the  Macedonians  had  been  fighting  for 
liberty  for  centuries.  The  claims  of  Albania 
were  not  so  clear.  Those  who  lived  close  to  the 
Balkans  understood  what  the  news  of  outrages 
and  massacres  was  worth.  Outrages  and  mas- 
sacres were  certainly  common  enough  in  both 
Macedonia  and  Albania,  but  news  from  the 
Balkans  never  penetrates  to  Mid-Europe,  unless 
it  is  to  the  advantage  of  some  Great  Power  that 
it  should  do  so.  Indeed,  events  of  great  im- 
portance happened  in  the  outlying  provinces  of 
Austria-Hungary  without  the  rest  of  Europe 
knowing  anything  about  them.  Rebellious 
Poles  were  shot  down  in  hundreds  by  dragoons 
in  broad  daylight.  Even  in  Vienna  and  Buda- 
pesth  the  soldiers  dealt  with  the  crowd  in  the 


ALBANIA   AND   MACEDONIA  95 

most  brutal  manner,  killing  and  wounding 
unarmed  citizens.  Official  telegrams  would 
report  riots,  mentioning  a  small  number  of 
injured  and  one  killed  Thus  it  may  be  under- 
stood that  news  from  the  Balkans,  especially 
when  it  dealt  with  outrages,  was  always  political 
in  its  aim,  and  always  biassed.  Just  at  this  time 
Albanian  massacres  began  to  be  very  frequent. 
Now  persons  acquainted  with  Albanians  will 
always  be  very  sceptical  as  to  these  same  mas- 
sacres. The  Mohammedan  Albanian,  a  member 
of  the  predominant  race  in  the  country,  is 
very  frequently  a  highly  polished  gentleman. 
He  speaks  French  very  fluently  of  the  variety 
spoken  at  Constantinople  and  throughout  the 
Balkans.  Few  Europeans  can  beat  him  in  accu- 
racy ;  none  come  anywhere  near  him  in  fluency, 
the  result  of  much  practice.  He  can  neither 
read  nor  write,  but  having  been  partially 
educated  at  Constantinople,  he  possesses  great 
culture.  Underneath  is  the  wild  man  of  the 
highlands,  who  carries  on  blood  feuds  with  the 
neighbouring  tribes,  and  never  hesitates  to  slay 
a  Turkish  tax-gatherer  at  sight.  "  Turkey,"  say 
the  Serbs,  "tried  to  tax  the  Albanians  for 
thousands  of  years ;  she  has  never  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  single  fara;  she  commuted  the  taxa- 
tion   for    soldiers,   and  all  the  finest  Turkish 


96  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA  ^ 

soldiers  are  really  Albanians."  This  was  literally 
true.  Practically  all  the  handsome  Turkish 
guards  are  Albanians,  and  they  have  won 
Turkey  her  reputation  for  producing  splendid 
soldiers.  The  Albanian,  too,  is  an  excellent 
merchant;  he  can  only  be  compared  with  the 
Italian  for  financial  capacity.  He  naturally  filled 
many  of  the  important  posts  under  Abdul 
Hamid.  Albanians  seldom  marry  into  alien 
races.  After  twenty  years  spent  in  Constan- 
tinople, the  Albanian  returns  home  to  settle 
upon  his  small  farm,  if  he  cannot  establish  him- 
self upon  the  ancestral  property.  It  is  often  a 
mere  slip  of  barren  land  upon  the  hillside,  where 
ploughing  must  be  done  by  hand,  because  no 
horse  or  mule  could  keep  a  foothold  on  the  steep 
slant.  He  purchases  the  property  and  founds  a 
family.  It  is  clear  that  a  man  of  this  dis- 
position, with  influence  at  Constantinople,  would 
not  allow  his  people  to  be  massacred  unavenged. 
If  the  cunning  tax-gatherer  dare  not  approach 
the  mountains,  even  when  guarded  by  a  troop  of 
Turkish  soldiers,  it  is  unlikely  that  the  some- 
what effete  men  who  compose  the  real  Turkish 
army  would  venture  up  country  merely  for  the 
sake  of  massacring  odd  Albanians.  The  latter 
seldom  congregate  in  cities,  but  are  scattered  far 
and  wide  throughout  a  roadless  country.     The 


ALBANIA  AND  MACEDONIA  97 

Turks  sometimes  sent  large  and  well-equipped 
expeditions  to  Albania,  to  avenge  the  killing  of  a 
governor  or  some  other  important  functionary 
who  was  misguided  enough  to  venture  into  their 
midst.  These  expeditions  burnt  out  villages  and 
killed  every  inhabitant  they  could  lay  hands  on 
in  the  approved  Turkish  fashion.  But  the  result 
of  such  expeditions  was  not  great.  The  Alba- 
nians, who  have  an  excellent  system  of  couriers, 
spread  the  news  of  any  attempt  against  their 
liberties.  The  inhabitants  took  to  the  moun- 
tains and  slaughtered  a  large  proportion  of  the 
invading  force  from  behind  rocks,  and  from 
almost  inaccessible  fastnesses  among  the  moun- 
tains. But  such  expeditions,  owing  to  their  cost 
in  men  and  arms,  were  very  rare.  Owing  to  the 
jealousies  of  Turkey,  Austria,  and  Italy,  the 
Albanian  never  lacked  weapons.  One  nation 
or  the  other  was  always  ready  to  supply  him 
with  munitions  to  carry  on  his  nefarious  plans 
against  the  others. 

The  Christian  Albanian  is  perhaps  a  trifle 
fiercer  than  his  Mohammedan  brother.  He  has 
not  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  a  long  stay  in 
Constantinople.  He  knows  the  Serb  language, 
having  learnt  it  from  the  wild  mountain  Serbs 
on  the  other  side  of  the  frontier.  He  is  quite 
savage,  like  his  neighbours.     There  is  little  to 

H 


98  SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

choose  between  the  Miridites  and  Malissores  on 
the  Albanian  side  of  the  border,  and  the  Monte- 
negrins and  Serbs  across  the  mountains.     The 
Albanian,  in  some  cases,  however,  has  had  a 
chance  of  improving  his  general  education.    He 
is   an   inveterate  emigrant.     There   is   a   large 
standing  colony  of  Albanians  in  the   United 
States.       In    Boston    alone    there    are    many 
thousands.    They  are  young  men,  almost  exclu- 
sively,   for   the   Albanian    does    not   take   his 
womenfolk  with  him,  nor  does  he  settle  beyond 
the  ocean.    He  simply  goes  abroad  to  make  his 
fortune.      He   works   without   ceasing     in   the 
great  factories  of  the  States,  he  denies  himself 
every  kind  of  pleasure,  and  eats  the  commonest 
food,    prepared    in    a    large    eating-house    for 
members   of   his  race,   and   saves   continually. 
Existence,  supported  upon  a  handful  of  maize 
or  macaroni,   cannot  be  interesting,   but  he  is 
willing  to  undergo  the  time  of  stress  for  the  pur- 
pose of  developing  into  a  landed  peasant-pro- 
prietor in  his  own  land.    He  is  then  permitted 
to  marry,  and  becomes  the  head  of  the  family. 
His  brothers  who  have  tilled  the  land  at  home 
are  denied  the  privilege  of  marriage  until  much 
later  on  in  life,  or  maybe  never  reach  a  state  of 
affluence   that  permits  them  to  enter  wedlock 
at  all. 


ALBANIA   AND   MACEDONIA  99 

It  gives  a  foreigner  something  of  a  shock  to 
hear  a  handsome  brigand  fresh  from  his 
mountains  speaking  perfect  Boston  English, 
and  using  with  the  utmost  assurance  words  that 
have  been  buried  in  oblivion  since  the  time  of 
Shakespeare. 

Such  is  the  Albanian  of  to-day.  Reports  of 
massacres  carefully  spread  from  the  Central 
News  Bureau,  under  German  influence,  at 
Salonica,  were  not  accepted  as  facts  in  the 
south-eastern  part  of  Europe.  Italians, 
acquainted  with  the  scene  of  action,  reckoned 
up  that  if  the  reports  issued  in  the  Austrian 
papers  were  true,  every  Albanian  must  have 
been  massacred  on  ten  different  occasions, 
besides  being  tortured  and  wounded  times  with- 
out number. 

The  interest  shown  by  Austria-Hungary  and 
Germany  in  the  welfare  of  Albania  was  much 
deeper  than  that  shown  in  Macedonia,  because 
Albania  commanded  the  Adriatic.  Italy  took 
an  equally  great  interest  in  Albania,  and  to  pre- 
vent any  mistake  about  the  final  fate  of  the 
country,  began  colonising  it,  planting  her 
traders  all  along  the  coast.  There  was  a  treaty 
between  Austria  and  Italy,  to  the  effect  that 
neither  country  should  make  any  move  in 
regard  to  Albania  without  consulting  the  other. 

H    2 


100         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

Neither  considered  that  the  spirit  of  the  agree- 
ment prevented  the  carrying  on  of  intrigue.  The 
Albanian,  skilled  in  the  diplomacy  of  the  East, 
pitted  one  set  of  agents  against  another,  and 
stored  up  rifles  of  the  newest  pattern  for  the 
carrying  out  of  his  private  vendettas  and  the 
repulsing  of  any  attempt  to  civilise  him. 

This  was  the  condition  of  Albania  when 
Austria-Hungary  thought  good  to  duplicate  her 
annexation  trick.  She  proclaimed  the  autonomy 
of  Albania  and  Macedonia  overnight,  without 
consulting  the  other  Powers.  Her  idea  of  auto- 
nomy was  rule  under  a  German  prince,  who 
would  use  his  influence  for  his  Fatherland. 
Austria  meant  to  make  another  Bulgaria  of 
Macedonia,  and  another  Rumania  of  Albania. 
Italy  protested  against  this  arrangement.  She 
objected  to  the  ever-handy  German  princes 
being  placed  on  thrones  near  the  sea-coast. 
Servia  and  Montenegro,  too,  were  afraid  of 
German  influence  being  extended  in  Albania, 
and  did  their  best  to  foment  trouble  there. 
Servia  had  long  regarded  the  route  over 
Albania  as  her  one  chance  of  an  outlet  to  the 
sea,  and  saw  herself  deprived  of  "her  little 
window  into  the  Adriatic "  by  the  plan  that 
would  make  Albania  a  sphere  of  Austro- 
German  influence. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

THE    BALKAN   WAR 

Germany  and  xA.ustria  were  considering  how 
the  Turkish  Empire  could  be  liquidated  in  a 
manner  to  secure  the  greatest  advantage  to 
themselves,  and  in  their  egoistical  view  some- 
what neglected  the  other  factors  in  the  situation. 
Russia  had  great  interests  in  the  Balkans.  Italy 
was  looking  towards  the  time  when  her  surplus 
population  could  be  sent  there  to  colonise  the 
rich  lands  that  had  been  so  neglected  under  the 
rule  of  the  Turks.  The  third  factor — 
which  Germany  and  Austria  did  not  think 
worth  considering  at  all — was  the  Balkan 
peoples  themselves.  Under  Russian  pro- 
tection, they  had  conceived  a  grand  scheme. 
A  Balkan  League  was  formed.  Bulgaria; 
Servia,  Greece  and  Montenegro  forgot  all  their 
disputes  and  became  allies.  Their  Ministers 
drew  a  map  of  the  Balkans,  apportioning  out 


102         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

among  themselves  the  provinces  that  then 
belonged  to  Turkey,  the  distribution  being  made 
according  to  the  nationality  of  the  peoples  who 
inhabited  each  district.  Each  country,  they  con- 
sidered, was  to  be  ruled  over  by  a  king  of  its 
own  nationality,  if  possible.  All  the  Bulgars  in 
Macedonia  were  to  be  united  under  the  sceptre 
of  King  Ferdinand.  The  Kingdom  of  Servia 
was  to  stretch  to  the  Adriatic,  Albania  was  to 
be  divided  between  Montenegro  and  Servia. 
Both  countries  would  then  have  fine  ports  in  the 
Adriatic.  Greece  was  to  extend  her  coastline 
considerably.  She  was  to  have  those  parts  of 
Macedonia  and  of  Albania  that  were  inhabited 
by  Greeks. 

The  Bulgarian  people  were  the  soul  of  this 
movement  for  liberation.  King  Ferdinand,  who 
was  always  a  German  at  heart,  and  who  ruth- 
lessly betrayed  his  adopted  country  to  serve 
German  interests,  was  probably  dragged  into 
the  scheme  by  his  enthusiastic  people  very  much 
against  his  will.  The  Bulgars  who  lived  in 
Austria  and  in  Hungary  boldly  said  that  they 
had  been  preparing  for  the  war  against  Turkey 
for  forty  years.  .  "  Every  effort  has  been  made 
by  great  and  small  for  nearly  half  a  century  to 
throw  off  the  Turkish  yoke,  and  at  last  we  shall 
do  it,"  they  said.     And  this  in  spite  of  the  Ger- 


THE   BALKAN   WAR  103 

manophile  King.  Bulgarian  gardeners,  who  are 
employed  all  over  Eastern  Europe  because  of 
their  extraordinary  skill,  came  to  Hungary, 
toiled  through  a  lifetime,  saving  every  possible 
penny  of  their  earnings  to  return  home  with 
money  for  the  war  fund.  Their  hate  of  the  Turks 
was  intense.  They  wished  to  free  their  fellow 
Bulgars,  who  were  oppressed  by  the  Turkish  tax- 
gatherers,  and  who  had  very  little  benefit  in 
return  for  years  of  toil  spent  in  cultivating 
tobacco-fields.  While  the  Bulgars  themselves 
were  working  for  an  ideal,  Ferdinand  and  his 
Ministers  wished  to  take  possession  of  the  rich 
tobacco-lands  in  Macedonia,  which  brought 
large  revenues  to  the  Turkish  State.  The 
Bulgars'  great  enthusiasm  was  only  damped  by 
a  profound  mistrust  of  their  Prince.  They  knew 
that  Ferdinand  ranked  as  one  of  the  best  diplo- 
matists in  Europe,  and  were  proud  to  have  so 
rich  a  man  upon  their  throne.  But  they  felt  that 
in  the  difficult  enterprise  they  were  about  to 
undertake  a  monarch  with  more  honesty  of  pur- 
pose would  have  been  fitter  to  deal  with  the 
situation. 

Although  the  Balkan  League  was  formed 
with  the  ostensible  purpose  of  freeing  Balkan 
lands  from  Turkish  rule,  the  discontent  in  the 
Balkans  was  due  to  other  causes.    Montenegro 


104         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

had  no  outlet  to  the  sea  that  was  suitable  or  big 
enough  for  her  needs.  If  she  had  possessed  Cat- 
taro,  one  of  the  many  excellent  ports  on  the 
Hungarian  coast,  Servian  goods  could  have  been 
exported  as  well  as  Montenegrin  products.  It 
was  Austria-Hungary  who  always  opposed  this. 
If  she  had  allowed  the  Serbs  to  send  their 
agricultural  products  to  other  parts  of  Europe 
beyond  the  Austro-Hungarian  frontier  all  would 
have  been  well.  There  was  a  shortage  of  meat 
in  Germany  and  Italy,  as  well  as  in  Austria 
itself.  But  Austria,  to  please  the  Hungarian 
agrarians,  interfered  with  all  export  trade  into 
Austria  or  Germany,  and  thus  made  the  Slavs 
on  the  Balkans  determined  to  find  an  outlet  to 
the  sea. 

The  Balkan  war  was  really  the  curtain-raiser 
to  the  Great  War.  The  King  of  Montenegro 
was  the  first  to  begin.  His  troops  were  mobilised 
in  twenty-four  hours.  The  Balkan  League  had 
advised  him  that  the  war  was  about  to  begin,  but 
it  is  more  than  possible  that  his  very  precipitate 
action  hastened  a  war  that  was  not  perhaps 
inevitable.  The  news  that  Montenegro  had 
mobilised  was  not  taken  seriously  in  Vienna.  A 
story  went  the  round  of  the  cafes  that  it  was  all 
a  put-up  affair.  Nikita,  they  said,  had  been 
engaged  by  Pathe  Freres,  he  was  to  receive  a 


THE   BALKAN   WAR  105 

large  sum  of  money  for  the  films  of  a  real 
mobilisation,  and  perhaps  a  miniature  battle 
with  the  Turks  thrown  in.  Very  soon,  however, 
it  was  seen  that  the  Balkans  were  in  deadly 
earnest.  The  Austrians,  who  knew  something 
of  the  fighting  qualities  of  the  Turks,  never 
doubted  that  they  would  have  a  complete  walk- 
over. The  Turks  had  money,  they  had  arms. 
The  Balkan  peoples  had  none.  Austria  was 
perhaps  not  aware  that  Germany  had  supplied 
Bulgaria  with  large  stores  of  guns  and  ammuni- 
tion. The  poor  Balkan  people  had  paid  very 
dearly  for  the  antique  patterns,  and  been 
swindled  most  atrociously  over  the  whole  deal. 
The  sights  of  the  guns  were  wrong,  and  the  Bul- 
garian gunners  had  had  no  instruction  in  their 
work. 

Servia  was  supplied  with  French  guns,  and 
French  gunners  accompanied  the  consignments 
to  their  destination,  and  taught  the  Serbs  how 
to  manage  the  complicated  weapons.  Monte- 
negro was  well  supplied  with  ammunition. 
Where  did  it  come  from  ?  The  wild  mountain 
tribes,  both  in  Montenegro  and  in  Albania,  were 
always  supplied  with  the  latest  thing  in  rifles 
and  full  supplies  of  ammunition.  They  had 
been  disarmed  time  and  time  again,  but  they 
merely    surrendered    ancient    heirlooms,    rifles 


106         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

that  served  their  grandfathers  or  great  grand- 
fathers. The  good  weapons  were  hidden  in 
caves  in  the  mountains,  or  buried  until  better 
times  came,  and  they  could  carry  them  again. 

The  first  Balkan  war  began,  and  the  unex- 
pected happened.  Turkish  troops  were  routed 
by  the  Bulgars,  who  fought  with  a  courage  and 
a  determination  that  won  them  the  respect  of 
Europe.  The  Bulgars  pushed  on  to  Adrianople, 
but  could  not  take  it  because  the  German  guns 
were  useless.  The  Bulgars  raged  against  the 
Germans.  Did  the  Germans  simply  look  upon 
them  as  savages  who  could  be  supplied  with  in- 
ferior goods,  or  had  they  supplied  the 
guns  knowing  that  they  would  be  used  against 
the  Turks?  Neither  Germany  nor  Austria 
wished  the  Turks  to  be  defeated.  They  were 
pleased  that  the  Balkan  peoples  should  be 
weakened  by  fighting  among  themselves,  but 
were  very  surprised  and  disappointed  at  the 
course  taken  by  the  war  and  the  total  defeat  of 
Turkey. 

After  the  war  was  over,  the  Balkan  peoples 
began  dividing  up  the  spoils.  Austria,  with 
Germany  behind  her,  interfered  in  the  settle- 
ment. She  would  not  allow  Servia  to  have  the 
territory  she  had  conquered  in  Albania,  or  any 
outlet  to  the  sea.     Servia  thereupon  demanded 


THE   BALKAN   WAR  107 

part  of  Macedonia,  instead  of  the  territory 
assigned  her  by  the  preliminary  agreement. 
Ferdinand  of  Bulgaria  was  inclined  to  yield 
this,  but  Austria  encouraged  him  to  stand  firm, 
promising  to  help  him  if  he  could  not  defeat 
that  handful  of  savages,  the  Serbs.  Russia, 
who  had  encouraged  the  formation  of  the 
Balkan  League,  saw  that  if  the  States  began 
fighting  among  themselves,  they  would  lose  all 
their  gains,  and  publicly  advised  the  Balkan 
kings  to  refrain  from  fighting  and  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  land  they  had  conquered.  The  States 
had  enlarged  their  borders  considerably;  it 
would  take  years  to  consolidate  them.  Russia 
counselled  them  to  attend  to  that  business  first, 
and  then  think  of  further  conquests.  This 
counsel  did  not  please  Bulgaria.  King  Ferdi- 
nand wired  to  Vienna  for  advice.  Austria-Hun- 
gary and  Germany  saw  their  chance.  The 
Balkan  peoples  were  disunited.  They  must  be 
encouraged  to  fight  among  themselves.  Austria, 
acting  without  Germany,  despatched  a  two- 
thousand  word  telegram  to  Ferdinand  of  Bul- 
garia. It  promised  an  attack  upon  Servia  from 
behind,  while  she  was  engaged  with  Bulgaria 
in  front.  The  preparations  made  just  before 
an  army  is  mobilised  were  hastily  put  through. 
Men  were  warned  for  active  service,  and  every 


108         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

preparation  made  for  starting  a  Balkan  cam- 
paign. V^hen  everything  was  ready  Austria- 
Hungary  notified  her  allies.  It  was  soon 
apparent  that  they  refused  to  join  in  the  cam- 
paign, or  even  to  stand  by  their  ally. 

Italy — as  was  discovered  long  after — said 
that  the  Triple  Alliance  was  defensive,  and  not 
offensive.  She  not  only  refused  to  aid  Austria, 
but  would  not  promise  to  remain  neutral  during 
the  expedition.  Germany,  seeing  that  an 
Austrian  expedition  to  the  Balkans  meant 
trouble  with  Italy,  persuaded  Austria  to  back 
out  of  her  promise.  Germany  was  not  sorry  that 
Austrian  prestige  should  suffer.  She  did  every- 
thing she  could  to  discredit  her  ally  in  the 
Balkans. 

When  Bulgaria  had  been  completely  beaten 
by  her  despised  neighbour,  Serbia,  Rumania  fell 
upon  her  from  behind  and  annexed  a  large 
piece  of  territory.  Ferdinand's  treachery  to  his 
allies  had  met  with  the  deserved  reward.  The 
Kaiser  had  no  pity  for  him,  and  was  not  slow 
to  point  out  that  whoever  relied  upon  Austria 
was  deceived.  Had  Ferdinand  applied  to 
Berlin,  instead  of  to  Vienna,  things  would  have 
gone  differently. 

Ferdinand,  broken,  aged,  a  politician  who 
has  lost  his  game,  a  King  bereft  of  territory, 


THE    BALKAN   WAR  109 

a  soldier  who  had  been  defeated,  fled  from  Sofia 
to  Vienna.  At  last  he  was  forced  to  leave  even 
that  refuge.  If  Austria-Hungary  had  meant  to 
leave  him  to  unravel  the  tangled  skein  she  had 
encouraged  him  to  weave,  she  should  have  told 
him  so  before,  and  not  abandoned  him  in  the 
darkest  hour  of  his  life.  The  Emperor  felt  the 
justice  of  the  reproaches  that  Ferdinand  made 
him.  He  wished  to  be  rid  of  the  troublesome 
monarch.  The  Vienna  Press  was  let  loose  upon 
Ferdinand.  Stories  to  his  discredit  were  circu- 
lated everywhere.  While  his  wife  comforted 
the  wounded,  said  the  leading  papers,  he  stayed 
in  the  capital  because  he  was  afraid  to  return. 
He  spent  his  time  in  frivolity,  joking  with  ballet 
girls  behind  the  scenes,  while  his  consort  was 
purchasing  artificial  limbs  for  the  maimed  from 
the  money  that  should  have  been  devoted  to  her 
own  personal  uses.  Ferdinand  soon  discovered 
that  in  Vienna,  as  elsewhere,  nothing  succeeds 
like  success,  and  that  failures  are  not  wanted, 
either  there  or  in  other  foreign  countries.  He 
crept  back  to  his  summer  palace,  had  the  guards 
doubled,  and  lived  in  fear  and  trembling.  His 
throne  was  so  shaken  that  it  seemed  very  doubt- 
ful whether  it  would  regain  its  equilibrium. 

In  disavowing  Ferdinand  Austria-Hungary 
lost  her  influence  in  the  Balkans. 


110       SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

At  this  period  Russia  and  Italy,  the  new 
Balkan  Powers,  were  in  the  ascendant.  Austria 
advised  Ferdinand  to  wait  his  time,  when  Bul- 
garia would  be  able  to  take  vengeance  upon  her 
neighbours,  and  reap  the  reward  of  her 
treachery.  Ferdinand,  thoroughly  tired  of 
promises,  and  bitterly  regretting  his  treachery  to 
his  allies,  which  had  brought  him  the  reward 
he  so  richly  deserved,  thanked  fate  that  his  wife 
and  sons  were  popular  in  the  country,  and  that 
he  could  leave  for  his  Hungarian  estates.  He 
was  sure  that  they  could  look  after  the  interests 
of  the  dynasty  much  better  during  his  absence 
than  when  he  was  there,  only  able  to  make 
lame  explanations  of  his  conduct  in  the  past 
and  his  inexplicable  quarrel  with  the  other 
Balkan  States. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

KING  FERDINAND  OF  BULGARIA,  THE  VAINEST  MAN 
IN    EUROPE 

King  Ferdinand  was  an  interesting-  study 
as  he  crept  away  from  Vienna,  all  his  hopes 
bankrupt,  his  people's  future  compromised. 
The  people  there  considered  him  almost  one  of 
themselves,  for  the  Coburgs  had  always  lived  in 
Vienna.  Prince  Philip  had  a  palace  that  com- 
manded a  fine  view  right  across  the  Rings- 
strasse.  His  brother  Ferdinand  lived  there 
when  he  came  to  Vienna,  and  was  thus  able 
to  come  to  and  fro,  incognito,  whenever  he 
pleased.  The  rest  of  Europe  had  no  idea  of 
the  frequency  of  his  visits  to  the  capital.  Per- 
haps it  was  only  the  theatre-managers  who 
really  were  aware  how  often  he  was  present  in 
a  capital  where  everyone  was  at  liberty  to  come 
and  go,  unmolested  by  the  crowd,  unless  he 
came  as  a  monarch  in  state,  when  the  Viennese 
were  the  first  to  acclaim  one  of  their  children 
"who  had  gone  so  far  in  the  world,"  as  they 
expressed  it.     The  general  feeling  in  the  city  was 


112         SEVEN    YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

that  Ferdinand  was  a  great  artist  in  diplomacy, 
perhaps  the  greatest  in  Europe.  In  the  capital 
of  Austria  he  met  many  statesmen  who  came 
there — to  the  "very  edge  of  civilisation,"  as 
they  put  it — to  confer  upon  the  problems  that 
then  troubled  Europe.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  fre- 
quently rushed  through  to  Vienna  in  his  auto- 
mobile, without  warning,  and  took  part  in  a 
short  discussion  of  the  situation,  at  which 
Ferdinand  assisted  on  many  occasions.  Kaiser 
Wilhelm,  with  his  usual  astuteness,  understood 
how  to  manage  Ferdinand.  He  did  not  need 
money;  that  was  a  great  relief  to  the  Kaiser, 
who  was  invariably  short  of  it  himself.  The 
Coburg  family  fortune  was  sufficient  to  provide 
for  all  his  private  wants  on  a  liberal  scale. 
There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  Ferdinand 
would  have  lost  his  throne  long  before  had  he 
been  forced  to  ask  his  subjects  for  money  to 
supply  his  personal  needs.  His  independence 
in  this  respect  placed  him  on  a  footing  with  the 
proudest  monarchs  in  Europe.  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm, prodigal  of  things  that  cost  him  nothing, 
was  able  to  lavish  his  gifts  of  wondering  ad- 
miration upon  the  King  of  Bulgaria.  He  tact- 
fully praised  qualities  that  his  friends  imagined 
they  possessed,  and  his  delicate  flattery  of  his 
best  "  democratic  "  manner,  that  seemed  to  say 


KING  FERDINAND    OF  BULGARIA     113 

there  was  no  difference  in  rank  at  all  between 
the  king  of  a  Balkan  State  and  the  Emperor 
of  Germany,  made  Ferdinand  a  puppet  in  his 
hands.  Wilhelm  flattered  him  into  seeing  things 
with  his  eyes,  and  mesmerised  the  dazzled 
monarch,  who  had  been  a  poor  lieutenant, 
into  thinking  that  he  was  really  being  taken 
into  the  confidence  of  German  statesmen  and 
allowed  to  read  the  secret  thoughts  of  the  great 
War  Lord  himself.  The  other  Balkan  sove- 
reigns, who  had  a  clearer  idea  of  the  reality  of 
things,  could  not  have  been  gulled  so  easily. 
They  would  have  realised  that  there  was  a 
reason  for  this  preference,  shown  only  of  recent 
years,  for  a  man  who  commanded  the  route  to 
Constantinople.  Ferdinand,  student  of  political 
history,  a  consummate  diplomatist,  was,  never- 
theless, blinded  by  the  Kaiser,  who  appeared  so 
simple — indeed,  almost  childlike — in  his  aims, 
and  so  far  removed  from  the  world  of  diplo- 
matists to  which  Ferdinand  belonged.  This 
apparent  simplicity  of  character,  which  has 
puzzled  so  many,  is  due  to  a  warped  mind. 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  has  long  considered  that 
nothing  mattered  compared  with  the  glorifica- 
tion of  Germany.  The  Almighty  he  con- 
sidered had  entrusted  him  with  the  task  of 
elevating    the    German    nation.      It    was    the 


114         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

supreme  people  of  the  earth.  It  ought  to  be 
raised  to  a  position  which  would  make  all  other 
people  subservient  to  it,  and  the  humble  instru- 
ment for  this  work  was  himself.  He  thus  con- 
sidered himself  at  liberty  to  break  any  law  that 
stood  in  his  way,  and,  being  a  firm  believer  in 
the  creed  that  the  end  justifies  the  means,  he 
was  able  to  impress  even  people  of  great  and 
unusual  acumen  with  a  sense  of  his  probity. 
King  Ferdinand  would  not  trust  the  King  of 
Montenegro,  although  Nikita  was  an  open- 
handed,  open-hearted  old  mountaineer.  He 
was,  however,  quite  willing  to  accept  Kaiser 
Wilhelm's  estimate  of  himself  as  a  man  with  a 
single  aim  that  must  be  accomplished  at  any 
cost.  The  King  of  Bulgaria  prided  himself 
upon  being  the  "Little  Czar"  of  the  Balkans, 
and  aped  the  great  Russian  Czar  in  many  ways. 
He  was  naturally  encouraged  in  this  by  Ger- 
many. His  insatiate  vanity  prevented  him  from 
seeing  that  the  delicate  flattery  poured  into  his 
ears  by  German  diplomatists  was  merely  dic- 
tated by  self-interest.  They  wished  to  detach 
him  from  Austria  and  secure  the  allegiance  of 
Bulgaria  for  Germany,  to  the  detriment  of 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph  and  his  prestige 
among  the  Balkan  peoples.  Ferdinand  would 
swallow   any   bait,   walk   into   any   trap,   if  an 


KING  FERDINAND   OF  BULGARIA     115 

appeal  to  his  vanity  were  made.  Order  after 
order  was  bestowed  upon  him;  he  received  so 
many  decorations  that  his  uniform  shone  like  a 
coat  of  mail  with  the  small  medals  that  are  worn 
instead  of  the  large  originals.  When  h^  made 
his  triumphal  progress  to  Vienna  for  the  first 
time  in  his  new  capacity  as  king,  his  tunic  was 
one  mass  of  sparkling  Orders.  The  Viennese, 
who  are  accustomed  to  decorations  on  a  whole- 
sale scale,  as  they  are  conferred  for  very  slight 
services  in  Austria-Hungary,  and  worn  with 
great  ostentation  by  all  and  sundry  at  the  Court, 
said  he  glittered  and  sparkled  like  a  dancing 
girl  at  a  fair.  They  were  quick  to  mark  the 
point  where  the  grandiose  becomes  ridiculous. 
They  saw  that  a  king  so  overloaded  with 
Orders  was  absurd,  not  regal.  "  But,  after  all, 
for  the  Balkans — perhaps  it  impresses  those 
savages  down  there  at  Sofia,"  and  with  a  shrug 
of  their  shoulders  they  turned  to  look  at  his 
handsome  sons,  Slavonic  in  type,  and  without 
decorations;  for  Ferdinand  never  allowed  his 
sons  to  play  a  leading  role  in  any  way.  They 
were  simple  soldiers,  who  might  mingle  with  the 
people  and  play  the  democrat  while  he  acted  the 
sovereign  lord. 

The   sons  made   a  much  better  impression 
upon    the    populace    than    the    father.      They 

I    2 


116         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

seemed  to  fit  the  frame  into  which  they  were 
born  much  better  than  the  king  who  had  been 
transported  from  living  among  the  gayest  and 
most  cynical  people  in  Europe  to  deal  with  the 
crude  realities  of  the  Balkans.  Ferdinand  had 
left  his  country  repeatedly  when  the  fear  of 
assassination  was  too  much  for  him.  He  has 
always  been  a  coward.  Even  his  soldierly 
training  did  not  give  him  a  grasp  of  what  is 
expected  of  a  man  and  a  monarch.  Like  Kaiser 
Wilhelm,  he  always  wore  a  mailed  shirt  or 
some  other  form  of  armour.  Like  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm, he  felt  peculiarly  safe  in  Vienna,  as  the 
police  system  is  so  perfect  that  any  attempt 
upon  the  life  of  a  monarch  is  almost  impossible. 
They  manage  to  keep  a  record  of  the  business 
of  every  person  who  comes  to  the  city.  No 
suspects  dare  venture  into  the  zone  controlled 
by  the  Vienna  police.  The  Austrian  Emperor, 
as  long  as  his  health  allowed,  strolled  about  the 
city  quite  unconcerned  for  any  danger.  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  found,  too,  that  he  could  promenade 
unguarded,  simply  because  the  police  had 
eliminated  all  chance  of  trouble.  After  the 
perils  of  Sofia  Ferdinand  enjoyed  this  feeling 
of  complete  security  among  the  light-hearted 
Viennese.  He  would  never  have  definitely 
broken  with  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  because 


KING   FERDINAND   OF  BULGARIA     117 

his  favourite  retreat  would  have  been  closed  to 
him  for  ever.  He  had  the  feeling  deep  in  his 
heart  that  he  might  be  forced  to  abdicate  at  any 
moment.  Then  Austria  would  afford  him 
shelter.  There  he  could  keep  up  his  state, 
receive  the  respect  and  homage  due  to  one  who 
had  been  king  and  retain  his  amour  fropre. 

It  is  probable  that  Ferdinand  had  but  a  low 
estimate  of  the  intellectual  attainments  and  the 
mental  grasp  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria  him- 
self. Like  all  the  members  of  a  younger 
generation  who  listened  to  the  wisdom  of  Kaiser 
Wilhelm,  he  regarded  him  as  "  played  out"  and 
a  "  back  number."  This  made  him  an  easier 
tool  in  the  hands  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  and  also 
led  to  his  getting  a  reputation  for  treachery 
which  perhaps  he  did  not  wholly  deserve. 
There  was  a  very  general  feeling  in  Austria- 
Hungary  which  was  sedulously  fostered  by 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  and  his  agents  that  promises 
made  to  the  aged  Emperor  were  not  binding. 
They  were  only  given  to  humour  the  old  man, 
who  was  already  in  his  dotage.  Ferdinand  of 
Bulgaria  on  several  occasions  failed  to  keep  his 
engagements  to  the  Emperor,  although  they  had 
been  solemnly  made.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  con- 
trived to  make  Ferdinand  and  others  besides 
see  that  the  aged  Emperor  was  not  a  factor  to 


118         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

be  reckoned  with  seriously,  and  that  the  Empire 
was  crumbling  visibly.  He  and  Germany  were 
all  that  mattered  in  Europe.  These  influences 
go  far  to  explain  Ferdinand's  policy  during  the 
Balkan  war  and  afterwards.  A  man  who  can 
be  led  by  his  vanity  is  unfit  for  any  position  of 
importance,  and  still  less  to  rule  with  an  abso- 
lute sway  such  as  he  exercised  in  Bulgaria. 
His  Parliament,  which  should  have  exercised  a 
restraining  influence,  was  rendered  useless,  as 
the  leading  members  could  be  "bought"  at  any 
time.  Ready  money  is  rare  in  the  Balkans,  and 
the  Austrian  diplomatist  knew  full  well  the  price 
of  every  politician  at  Sofia.  It  was  amazingly 
small.  Sometimes  they  stood  out  for  an  Order 
as  well  as  money  as  the  price  of  their  dishonour, 
but  as  a  rule  money  was  sufficient  to  buy  them 
to  betray  their  country.  It  is  surprising  that 
men  who  had  risen  straight  from  the  soil  should 
have  shown  themselves  so  venial,  but  they  had 
the  example  of  their  king  before  them,  and  this 
explains  much.  The  atmosphere  at  Sofia  was 
one  of  intrigue  and  crime.  No  one  could  stand 
against  it.  The  common  people,  sturdy 
peasants,  dimly  comprehended  that  their  king 
was  not  doing  the  best  for  them.  They  wished 
to  join  in  any  plot  for  his  undoing  that  might 
be  suggested  to  them.     They  looked  towards 


KING   FERDINAND   OF  BULGARIA     119 

the  Czar  of  All  the  Russias  to  deliver  them 
from  a  distasteful  alliance  with  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary.  This  made  Ferdinand 
anxious  to  conciliate  Russia  if  he  wished  to 
retain  the  sympathies  of  his  people.  The  Aus- 
trians  failed  to  understand  these  "  extra  tours," 
as  they  called  Ferdinand's  sudden  volte-face 
in  favour  of  Russia  and  the  Slavs.  The 
Viennese,  although  they  liked  him,  mistrusted 
him  profoundly.  Just  as  some  strange  instinct 
led  them  to  suspect  the  bluff  friendliness  of 
Kaiser  Wilhelm,  they  regarded  Ferdinand  as 
an  unknown  book — a  book  of  possibilities  that 
might  be  to  their  advantage  or  might  betray 
them  to  Russia,  for  both  Germany  and  Austria- 
Hungary  regarded  the  growing  Russian  menace 
with  fear — a  fear  perhaps  shared  by  Ferdinand, 
who  had  seen  that  Servia  and  Montenegro,  who 
trusted  implicitly  to  Russia,  had  accomplished 
much  of  their  aims.  They  had  fulfilled  many 
of  their  aspirations,  and  were  in  a  fair  way  to 
realise  the  rest.  Ferdinand,  instead  of  obtain- 
ing advantages  for  his  country,  was  now  bribed 
to  quiescence  and  silence  by  a  new  honour.  The 
Golden  Fleece  was  conferred  upon  him.  This 
gratification  of  his  vanity  bound  him  closer  to 
Austria-Hungary,  for  he  owed  the  decoration  to 
the  good  offices  of  Emperor  Francis  Joseph. 


CHAPTER  XV 


THE    PRINCE    OF    WIED 


The  Powers  of  Europe  decided  that  Albania 
should  be  constituted  an  independent  kingdom, 
and  a  king  chosen  from  among  the  European 
princes.  The  new  ruler  was  to  belong  to  some 
family  that  had  possessed  sovereign  rights  in  the 
past,  and  this  limited  the  choice  very  much.  He 
was  to  come  to  his  new  home  with  all  the  lustre 
lent  by  the  acknowledgment  of  his  fellow  rulers 
to  one  of  equal  birth.  Many  candidates,  more 
or  less  suitable,  were  ready  to  accept  the  throne. 
Europe  discussed  their  relative  merits.  The 
only  people  who  had  no  voice  at  all  in  the 
matter  were  the  Albanians  themselves.  They 
naturally  did  not  want  a  sovereign  chosen  by 
the  Powers,  but  one  selected  by  themselves. 
They  frankly  said  a  complete  stranger  should 
be  chosen,  as  the  Roman  Catholic  tribes  would 
not  acknowledge  the  domination  of  a  Moham- 


120 


THE  PRINCE  OF  WIED  121 

medan;  the  Mohammedans  would  object  to  the 
chief  of  one  of  the  Christian  tribes;  and  the 
Greeks  would  submit  to  neither.  Europe  knew 
full  well  that  the  task  of  civilising  the  nation 
would  be  no  easy  one,  and  it  was  generally 
thought  that  the  life  of  the  new  king  would  not 
be  worth  a  month's  purchase.  Some  of  the  mal- 
contents were  certain  to  attempt  his  life,  almost 
as  certain  to  succeed  in  killing  him.  Other 
people  said  that  the  task  of  ruling  over  Albania 
need  not  be  more  difficult  than  that  of  civilising 
Rumania  or  Bulgaria,  and  that  it  was  only  a 
question  of  finding  the  right  man.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  Powers  did  not  act  loyally  towards 
the  new  country.  They  made  no  attempt  to 
study  the  interests  of  the  population,  but  sought 
a  ruler  whose  selection  should  provoke  the 
minimum  of  objection  from  the  other  Powers. 
Germany  wanted  to  place  a  German  prince 
on  the  throne.  Italy  naturally  objected  to  any 
man  who  would  be  a  mere  puppet  in  the  hands 
of  Austria  or  Germany.  Austria  objected  to  any 
Italian  candidates.  Finally  the  Powers  agreed 
to  accept  a  prince  of  irreproachable  reputation 
and  sprung  from  a  very  old  family,  but  utterly 
devoid  of  brains.  The  Prince  von  Wied 
was  selected  for  his  lack  of  any  prominent 
characteristics.     The  new  prince  had  the  out- 


122         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

ward  appearance  of  a  monarch,  being  extremely 
tall  and  handsome,  while  his  reputation  as  a 
military  man  left  nothing  to  be  desired.  Nothing 
had  ever  been  heard  of  him  outside  or  indeed 
inside  Germany,  and  the  news  was  soon  circu- 
lated in  the  inner  circles  of  diplomacy  that  he 
had  simply  been  selected  as  a  figure-head.  It 
was  never  expected  that  he  would  accomplish 
anything  in  any  way.  He  had  spent  his  life  in 
German  military  circles  and  was  the  "  ideal 
officer."  Like  most  of  his  brethren  in  arms,  he 
was  empty-headed,  possessed  of  an  intelligence 
below  the  average,  and  spent  his  time  in  look- 
ing after  his  estates.  This  negative  information 
was  not  unsatisfactory.  The  most  important 
fact  about  the  prince  was  carefully  concealed, 
however.  He  was  deep  in  debt.  This  was  common 
among  the  young  German  officers,  but  whereas 
their  debts  were  limited  by  the  fact  that  pur- 
veyors refused  to  trust  them,  the  Prince  of 
Wied  was  heavily  involved.  The  Albanians, 
who  had  agents  all  over  Europe,  discovered  his 
predicament.  They  considered  that  a  Balkan 
king  must  possess  a  fortune  of  his  own,  as  they 
did  not  wish  to  pay  a  large  civil  list.  All  the 
Balkan  princes  who  had  come  as  strangers  into 
the  land  brought  riches  and  not  debts  with 
them.    This  gave  them  weight,  not  only  among 


THE  PRINCE   OF  WIED  123 

their  peers,  but  also  among  their  subjects.  A 
prince  or  king  cannot  be  a  pauper.  Quite  apart 
from  minor  considerations,  his  monetary  diffi- 
culties would  make  him  venial.  The  Albanians, 
accustomed  to  bribery  and  to  rulers  of  very 
questionable  morality,  openly  voiced  this  objec- 
tion. They  had  no  opinion  of  German  or  any 
other  probity  when  exposed  to  temptation.  The 
Italians  in  Albania,  who  had  hoped  for  an 
Italian  duke  to  forward  their  interests,  did 
their  best  to  exaggerate  the  financial  straits  of 
the  Prince  von  Wied.  While  many  stories  about 
his  poverty  were  heard,  nothing  was  said  about 
the  family  estates,  which  had  been  sufficient 
guarantee  for  the  moneylenders.  The  money- 
lenders, who  were  ready  to  trust  the  Prince  of 
Wied  indefinitely,  refused  however  to  leave  their 
money  with  a  Balkan  prince;  that  was  a 
different  matter.  Jokes  were  heard  in  the 
cafes  about  the  "pauper  king"  and  Europe's 
appointment  of  a  "  beggar  sovereign."  The 
Servians,  whose  kings  were  poor  but  honest, 
openly  derided  the  new  importation.  All  these 
reports  spread  throughout  Albania  like  wild- 
fire. It  is  remarkable  that  news  is  circulated 
much  more  quickly  in  Albania  than  in  civilised 
countries.  It  is  always  the  salient  facts  that 
are    seized    upon,    unimportant    details    being 


124         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

neglected  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  people  who 
can  neither  read  nor  write,  and  whose  heads  are 
therefore  phenomenally  clear.  Descriptions  of 
the  Prince,  allusions  to  his  martial  figure,  were 
good  enough  for  the  German  papers. 

Albania  did  not  heed  them.  She  knew  that  she 
was  to  be  governed  by  a  man  who  knew  no  word 
of  the  language,  who  brought  no  troops  with 
him,  and  who  not  only  had  no  money  but  was 
deep  in  debt.  It  was  not  thus  that  Albania 
pictured  her  king.  She  would  even  prefer  to  live 
under  the  domination  of  one  of  the  native 
princes,  who  would  have  been  as  successful  as 
the  King  of  Montenegro  in  keeping  his  subjects 
in  due  order.  There  were  several  of  these  men 
who  could  have  mounted  the  throne,  and  who 
would  have  known  how  to  wield  the  sceptre.  It 
did  not  suit  Europe  to  create  an  independent 
Albania,  however.  Neither  Italy  nor  Austria 
really  wished  the  new  venture  to  be  a  success, 
as  they  desired  to  share  Albania,  dividing  it  into 
two  spheres  of  influence. 

Prince  von  Wied  had  one  saving  virtue — he 
was  modest  and  had  no  delusions  on  the  subject 
of  his  capabilities.  He  hesitated  greatly  before 
accepting  the  charge.  Alone,  he  would  never 
have  assumed  the  office  thrust  upon  him.  Un- 
fortunately, he  had  a  wife  who  was  both  ambi- 


THE  PRINCE   OF  WIED  125 

tious  and  lacking  in  intelligence.  The  Princess 
of  Wied  imagined  that  the  Albanians  could  be 
ruled  by  the  introduction  of  the  same  methods 
that  impressed  the  intellectual  circles  in  a  Ger- 
man town.  She  was  accustomed  to  preside  over 
a  number  of  ladies,  "  seekers  of  culture,"  and 
thought  that  she  could  exercise  a  similar  in- 
fluence over  the  Albanians.  Neither  she  nor  her 
husband  realised  that,  when  'they  left  Germany 
for  Albania,  they  were  stepping  right  out  of  the 
twentieth  century  into  the  tenth.  They  both 
imagined  that  the  Albanians  would  be  im- 
pressed by  the  antique  furniture  which  they  sent 
on  in  advance  to  furnish  the  villa  at  Durazzo, 
not  realising  that  the  Albanians,  accustomed  to 
all  the  pomp  of  the  Turkish  pasha,  simply  re- 
garded their  "  antiques"  as  a  collection  of 
quaint-looking  lumber.  The  Albanians  were 
correct  in  their  estimate,  for  the  objects  which 
Princess  von  Wied  considered  so  valuable  were 
seen  to  be  mere  rubbish  by  the  connoisseur. 
The  Vienna  furnishers  who  came  down  to 
arrange  for  the  arrival  of  the  new  Prince,  were 
horrified  at  the  condition  in  which  they  found 
the  palace.  It  was  built,  like  all  Albanian 
houses,  as  a  kind  of  fortess.  There  were  no 
windows  at  all  on  the  lower  floors.  Loopholes, 
from    which    the   muzzles    of   guns    projected, 


126         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

served  instead  of  windows.  Large  apertures 
were  too  dangerous  in  a  country  inhabited  by 
natives  who  were  in  the  habit  of  potting-at  the 
occupants  of  rooms  on  the  ground  floor.  Inside 
the  immense  barn-like  house  the  Vienna  fur- 
nishers found  vermin  of  all  sorts.  This  is 
common  in  Albania,  but  the  state  of  the  palace 
was  such  that  it  should  have  warned 
them  that  the  coming  Prince  was  not 
popular,  for  they  might  have  known  that  the 
rats  had  been  introduced  into  the  apart- 
ments as  a  protest.  The  rat-holes  v/ere  hastily 
stopped  up  with  cement,  the  mildewed  walls 
were  draped  with  costly  hangings,  but  the  work- 
men who  were  taken  down  for  the  job  felt  that 
it  was  no  place  either  for  a  lady  or  children, 
and  said  so  freely.  Although  they  could  not 
speak  the  Albanian  language,  they  felt  the  anti- 
pathy of  the  natives.  They  were  aware  of  the 
opposition  that  showed  itself  in  a  hundred 
different  ways,  too  small  to  particularise,  but  all 
of  which  revealed  dangers  and  difficulties  for 
the  new  monarch. 

The  Prince  made  a  round  of  the  chief  Courts 
of  Europe,  before  reaching  his  new  country. 
His  fellow  sovereigns  were  willing  to  do  all 
they  could  to  give  him  a  good  "  send-off,"  and 
he  was  feted  everywhere.    Diplomatists,  accus- 


THE   PRINCE   OF   WIED  127 

tomed  to  judging  men,  thought  very 
poorly  of  his  chances  of  success.  He 
had  numberless  opportunities  of  finding 
out  something  about  his  future  subjects. 
Men  fresh  from  the  Balkans  were  invited  to 
meet  him,  but  he  did  not  care  to  avail  himself 
of  their  information.  Neither  did  he  consult 
any  statesmen  of  experience  as  to  how  he  should 
act  in  any  given  circumstances;  he  appeared  to 
think  that  he  would  know  all  this  by  instinct 
when  once  he  had  assumed  the  crown.  Thus 
those  accustomed  to  the  cares  of  State  watched 
the  new  man  depart  with  strong  misgivings. 

The  manner  of  his  arrival  was  the  initial 
mistake.  He  slipped  into  his  new  kingdom 
almost  unannounced.  He  sneaked  into  the 
country  like  a  political  refugee  who  wishes  to 
avoid  the  notice  of  the  police.  A  handful  of 
Albanians,  gathered  together  at  the  last  moment, 
shouted  "  Hurrah !  "  when  he  appeared,  but 
even  their  enthusiasm  was  purchased,  and  not 
having  been  paid  for  on  the  usual  scale,  was  cor- 
respondingly feeble  and  ineffectual.  After 
making  this  unfortunate  entry,  the  Prince 
settled  down  to  do — nothing.  The  Albanians 
had  learnt  that  the  money  given  by  the  Powers 
for  the  administration  of  Albania  had  been  ap- 
plied to  pay  the  Prince's  private  debts,  as  the 


128         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

creditors  had  refused  to  allow  him  to  leave  Ger- 
many with  his  obligations  unsettled;  and  they 
refused  to  welcome  him.  The  Princess  deco- 
rated her  house,  and  attended  to  the  furnishing 
of  rooms  for  her  children.  She,  at  least,  was 
delighted  at  the  chance  of  being  able  to  play  at 
being  a  real  Princess.  The  Prince  himself  was 
less  contented.  He  was  doubtful  of  the  inten- 
tions of  Essad  Pasha,  and  confused  by  the 
different  instructions  he  had  received.  Kaiser 
W^ilhelm  had  promised  to  stand  by  him  in 
his  usual  "  shining  armour  "  fashion,  if  he  did 
exactly  as  the  German  envoy  suggested.  The 
Prince,  however,  was  shrewd  enough  to  see  that 
German  influence  was  of  little  value  in  the 
Balkans.  Italy  was  evidently  the  dominant 
Power  in  Albania.  Her  agents  had  spent  money 
freely.  The  Prince  had  reason  to  believe  that 
Austria  and  Germany  had  also  made  large  ex- 
penditures on  the  glorious  work  of  colonisation, 
but  he  failed  to  observe  the  fruits.  The  younger 
generation  of  Albanians  spoke  Italian,  which 
was  taught  in  the  schools.  Proficiency  in  Italian 
was  necessary  for  all  who  engaged  in  commerce 
and  trade,  as  all  the  coasting  business  was  with 
Italy.  Although  attempts  had  been  made  to 
establish  schools  where  instruction  was  imparted 
in  German,  they  refused  to  attend  them  and  were 


THE   PRINCE   OF   WIED  129 

very  averse  to  adopting  German  habits  or  cus- 
toms. While  the  Prince  spent  his  time  in  avoid- 
ing complications,  by  remaining  within  the 
palace,  the  Princess  conferred  with  Viennese 
decorators  about  the  furnishing.  This  naturally 
prejudiced  the  local  workmen,  and  showed  that 
she  had  not  any  grasp  of  the  first  duties  of  a 
ruling  princess.  Shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the 
new  Royal  family,  news  was  received  that 
Albanian  insurgents  were  advancing  upon  the 
capital.  No  one  knew  what  they  wanted.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  they  knew  themselves.  They 
were  aware  that  there  was  loot  to  be  had  in  the 
palace.  Perhaps  that  was  the  secret  of  then 
coming.  The  Prince,  who  had  insisted  upon  two 
warships  being  stationed  off  Durazzo,  now  tele- 
graphed for  aid.  More  ships  were  sent.  The 
Powers  regarded  this  as  unnecessary — Durazzo 
is  situated  at  the  farther  end  of  a  peninsula. 
The  only  path  between  Durazzo  and  the  main- 
land is  over  a  bottomless  morass.  The  insur- 
gents could  only  approach  the  place  in  single 
file  and  the  approach  to  the  palace  could  be 
swept  by  the  cannon  on  the  warships. 

The  Albanian  insurgents  might  attempt  a 
surprise  attack,  but  all  through  the  night  search- 
lights swept  the  narrow  neck  of  land  that  led  to 
Durazzo. 

K 


130         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

The  Prince  was  afraid  of  the  unknown. 
Away  from  drill  books  and  civilisation,  he  was 
quite  helpless.  It  was  at  this  critical  moment 
that  one  of  the  cleverest  diplomatists  in  Europe 
— the  Italian  Minister,  Alliotto — who  had  been 
sent  to  Albania  with  a  watching  brief,  played 
his  trump  card.  When  the  danger  seemed 
worst,  he  persuaded  the  Prince  to  flee.  The 
"modern  knight,"  the  representative  of  up-to- 
date  chivalry  as  practised  in  the  Guards  m 
Berlin,  actually  fled  from  his  new  country  and 
took  refuge  on  the  battleship.  After  several 
hours'  stay  on  the  ship  nothing  happened, and  he 
realised  that  he  had  been  fooled  by  the  astute 
diplomatist.  The  palace  was  not  looted,  could 
never  have  been  looted,  with  the  guns  from  the 
warships  turned  upon  the  twisting  path  across 
the  marshes.  No  single  Albanian  insurgent 
could  reach  the  spot.  He  left  his  wife  and 
children  in  safety,  and  returned  to  the  capital 
he  had  left,  to  resume  a  crown  as  one  resumes  an 
umbrella  laid  down  at  the  club.  He  was  re- 
ceived with  derision.  All  Europe  had  got  news 
of  his  flight.  The  Italian  diplomatist  had  taken 
care  of  that.  Photographs  were  taken  on  the 
spot.  They  showed  the  Prince  leaving  the  palace 
in  a  panic  and  getting  into  the  ship's  boat,  and 
afterwards  climbing   up  the  side  of  the  ship. 


THE   PRINCE   OF  WIED  131 

They  were  circulated  through  the  European 
Press.  Pictures  of  the  palace,  and  of  the  small 
groups  of  tatterdemalions  who  had  forced  a 
German  Prince  and  military  expert  to  abdicate, 
were  sown  broadcast.  Europe  did  not  know 
that  a  swift  little  Italian  boat  had  been  waiting 
for  weeks  to  carry  away  the  news.  The  Italians 
knew  that  Germany  and  Austria  would  contra- 
dict the  news  of  the  Prince's  flight.  So  they 
said :  "  Photographs  cannot  be  contradicted. 
Let  us  have  plenty." 

The  Prince  was  the  laughing-stock  of 
Europe.  He  was  forced  to  abdicate.  Even 
the  Kaiser  felt  he  could  not  advise  him  to  re- 
main on  the  throne  after  the  painful  incident. 
He  did  not  even  dare  to  return  to  Germany,  but 
spent  months  in  Italy,  travelling,  before  he 
cared  to  face  the  music  at  Berlin.  Germany  and 
Austria  had  played  against  Italy  for  diplomatic 
supremacy  in  Albania.  Italy  had  won  all  along 
the  line.  Not  only  had  she  succeeded  in  dis- 
gracing the  German  princelet,  she  had  attained 
her  own  object,  too — lowering  Austrian  prestige 
in  the  Balkans  and  raising  her  own. 


K    2 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE   KING  OF  THE   BLACK   MOUNTAINS 

The  most  interesting  figure  in  South-Eastern 
Europe  was  King  Nikita.  He  ruled  over  the 
smallest  patch  of  country  that  can  call  itself  a 
kingdom,  but  he  is,  perhaps,  a  more  consum- 
mate diplomatist  than  any  of  his  fellow  Balkan 
monarchs  who  have  been  swayed  by  the  King 
of  Montenegro  without  suspecting  it.  He  has 
great  influence  in  a  number  of  countries.  This 
is  due  to  his  extraordinary  foresight.  He  had 
a  family  of  girls,  who  came  of  untainted  stock, 
with  a  family  reputation  for  sound  health,  both 
physical  and  mental.  Surrounded  by  his  hand- 
some family,  he  realised  that  Europe  was  tired 
of  German  princesses— that  their  presence  in 
every  Court  of  Europe  was  unpleasing  to  many 
monarchs,  who  did  not  wish  German  women  to 
know  State  secrets  and  to  be  in  a  position  to 
pass  them  on  to  powerful  relatives  at  home. 


THE  KING  OF  THE  BLACK  MOUNTAINS  133 

He  appears  to  have  made  a  complete  study  of 
the  subject  of  royal  marriages.  His  girls,  un- 
like the  ordinary  Balkan  princesses,  were 
brought  up  very  simply.  It  is  even  reported 
that  they  were  able  to  milk  the  cows  and  goats 
that  strayed  near  the  country  home  where  they 
were  educated.  They  had  a  training  in  prac- 
tical housework,  which  took  the  place  of  the 
frivolities  that  usually  go  to  make  up  prin- 
cesses' lives.  When  they  became  of  marriage- 
able age,  Nikita  secluded  them  more  carefully 
than  before.  No  breath  of  scandal  ever  touched 
them.  But  their  good  qualities  were  reported 
far  and  wide,  and  did  not  escape  those  monarchs 
who  were  in  search  of  a  wife  for  the  heir  to  the 
throne.  Nikita  managed  to  secure  the  throne  of 
Italy  for  one  daughter.  The  Italians  are  always 
grateful  to  the  King  for  bestowing  his  daughter 
upon  their  ruler.  The  children  that  have  been 
born  to  him  are  healthy  beyond  those  of  any  of 
the  aristocrats  that  surround  the  throne,  for  they 
inherit  the  sound  constitution  of  their  grand- 
father, the  heartiest  and  halest  man  in  Europe. 
The  Grand  Duke  who  took  a  daughter  of  the 
King  of  Montenegro  to  preside  over  his  vast 
estates  in  Russia  has  never  regretted  his  choice. 
Although  both  men  have  a  needy  father-in-law, 
and  perhaps  grudge  the  money  that  frequently 


134         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

flows  to  Cettinje,  they  have  secured  wives  with' 
virtues  that  are  worth  much  gold.  The  King 
of  Montenegro  enjoyed  immunity  from  attack 
because  of  his  highly  placed  sons-in-law,  and 
was  able  to  play  a  part  in  the  politics  of  Europe 
that  would  not  have  been  possible  under  other 
circumstances.  After  having  taken  the  title  of 
King  instead  of  Prince,  he  came  to  Vienna  to 
pay  his  first  visit  in  the  new  capacity.  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph,  ever  ready  to  support  all  digni- 
taries, received  him  in  a  worthy  manner,  putting 
a  suite  of  rooms  reserved  for  kings  at  his  dis- 
posal. King  Nikita,  who  was  seldom  seen  in 
Vienna,  was  decidedly  popular,  and  the  crowd 
showed  great  enthusiasm  in  welcoming  him. 
He  managed  to  enhance  the  importance  of  his 
visit  by  a  circumstance  that  caused  much  specu- 
lation at  the  time.  It  was  arranged  that  Nikita 
should  go  to  the  races  and  watch  the  Austrian 
"  Derby,"  the  closing  event  of  the  early  summer 
season.  He  was  accompanied  by  Archduke 
Francis  Ferdinand  and  Duchess  Hohenberg 
and  a  number  of  other  members  of  the  Imperial 
family,  who  always  crowded  into  the  Imperial  box 
at  the  races,  as  they  are  all  intensely  interested 
in  all  that  concerns  horses.  The  King  of 
Montenegro  is  also  interested  in  everything 
connected  with  outdoor  sports,  and  looked  for- 


THE  KING  OF  THE  BLACK  MOUNTAINS  135 

ward  to  the  event.  Early  on  that  Sunday 
morning  the  rumour  was  circulated  in  Vienna 
that  an  attempt  was  to  be  made  upon  the  life  of 
the  visitor.  Why  anyone  should  wish  to  assas- 
sinate the  King  of  Montenegro  was  a  mystery 
— whether  the  King  had  the  report  circulated 
himself  to  increase  his  importance,  or  what  it 
meant,  was  not  clear.  All  Vienna  hurried 
down,  in  spite  of  the  blazing  heat;  no  one 
wished  to  be  absent  at  such  a  time.  The  police 
had  taken  precautions,  which  showed  that  they 
at  least  anticipated  something.  Every  visitor 
to  the  Imperial  enclosure  had  to  walk  through 
a  long  line  of  detectives  and  diplomatic  agents. 
If  none  of  them  recognised  him,  he  was  fol- 
lowed and  carefully  hustled,  as  if  by  accident, 
into  a  corner  far  off  the  Imperial  box.  Other 
detectives  crowded  him  and  ascertained  whether 
he  had  a  bomb  about  his  person  by  bumping 
against  him.  Persons  in  official  capacities  were, 
on  the  contrary,  propelled  as  if  by  some  unseen 
force  to  the  front  of  the  box,  where  they  were 
forced  to  remain  by  pure  physical  pressure  of 
the  cordon  of  police  in  plain  clothes,  in  spite 
of  the  blazing  sun  that  beat  down  on  the  race- 
course. The  old  King  came  into  the  box. 
Duchess  Hohenberg  sat  at  his  right,  and  enter- 
tained   him    in   her   best   and   most   vivacious 


136         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

manner.  He  greatly  appreciated  the  trouble 
that  she  was  taking  with  him  in  pointing  out  the 
different  horses  and  telling  him  which  colours 
belonged  to  this  great  aristocrat  or  that  great 
politician.  Archduchess  Maria  Annunziata,  the 
abbess  of  a  Bohemian  convent,  who  had  been 
charged  with  the  task  of  conversing  with  the 
King,  was  only  too  willing  to  relinquish  her 
seat  of  honour  and  to  retire  to  the  back  to 
watch  the  racing  with  one  of  the  juvenile  Arch- 
dukes. The  King  watched  the  pretty  woman 
by  his  side  with  admiration;  her  animation 
pleased  him.  Nikita  felt  in  his  element,  the 
most  important  man  in  the  place.  He  did  not 
cut  a  bad  figure  even  among  the  Austrian  and 
Hungarian  Archdukes,  who  are  finely-built 
men,  many  of  them  being  extraordinarily  hand- 
some. After  the  event  of  the  afternoon  was 
run  and  the  cheering  had  ceased,  the  King, 
Archduke  and  Duchess  departed,  as  is  the 
custom  of  royalty.  The  members  of  the  Im- 
perial family  stayed  to  watch  the  rest  of  the 
events,  and  only  left  five  minutes  before  the 
end. 

Upon  the  departure  of  the  King  and  the 
Archduke  the  police  cordon  immediately  re- 
laxed. Persons  who  had  been  sandwiched  in 
to  form  part  of  the  buffer  that  protected  the 


THE  KING  OF  THE  BLACK  MOUNTAINS  137 

Imperial  box  had  free  passage.  The  feeling  of 
oppression,  of  expectation,  relaxed.  But  still 
there  was  no  explanation  of  the  mysterious 
threats  against  the  life  of  so  unimportant  a 
sovereign  as  the  King  of  Montenegro.  In  the 
light  of  after  events  it  occurred  to  many  who 
assisted  at  that  running  of  the  Derby  that  it 
was  the  life  of  the  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand 
which  was  sought  on  that  day.  It  was  the  first 
time  for  many  months  that  he  had  appeared  in 
public,  and  the  dislike  felt  for  him  both  by  the 
people  and  by  his  near  relatives  had  reached 
a  dangerous  pitch.  No  such  tragedy  as  hap- 
pened later  at  Sarajevo  took  place  simply 
because  the  Austrian  police  was  so  efficiently 
organised  and  so  powerful  that  it  could  prevent 
anything  of  the  sort  by  a  process  of  elimina- 
tion. The  same  process  might  be  witnessed 
every  summer  in  Ischl,  where  no  one  was 
allowed  to  take  up  his  residence  unless  he  could 
give  a  satisfactory  account  of  himself  to  the 
police.  This  was  easy  in  Austria-Hungary,  as 
there  was  no  shifting  population  to  be  dealt 
with.  An  exact  record  of  the  past  life  of  every 
person  resident  within  the  empire  is  kept.  All 
suspects  are  watched.  Thus  Austria  was  the 
safest  place  in  Europe  for  monarchs. 

King  Nikita  departed  as  he  had  arrived,  amid 


138         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

the  acclamations  of  the  population.  He  had 
been  gratified  by  the  invitation,  and  King  Peter 
of  Servia  had  been  correspondingly  humiliated. 
He  had  never  been  invited  to  come  to  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Court.  This  was  a  standing 
source  of  annoyance  to  the  Serbs,  who  con- 
sidered that  it  would  have  given  him  the  pres- 
tige that  he  somehow  lacked.  They  considered 
that  the  tragedy  that  had  preceded  his  accession 
to  the  throne  should  be  forgotten  after  the  lapse 
of  years.  Emperor  Francis  Joseph,  one  of 
whose  chief  aims  in  life  is  the  maintenance  of 
the  dignity  of  rulers  and  the  magnifying  of  the 
vocation  of  kings,  did  not  take  this  view.  He 
said  that  as  long  as  he  lived  King  Peter  should 
never  come  to  Vienna.  It  would,  perhaps,  have 
been  better  had  less  been  done  to  honour  the 
King  of  Montenegro  under  these  circumstances. 
In  this  and  many  other  trifling  affairs  the 
wounds  already  inflicted  upon  Servian  amour 
frofre  were  kept  open  instead  of  being  allowed 
to  heal. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

EMIGRATION    PROMOTED    BY    GERMANY — SOCIAL 
QUESTIONS    IN    THE    DUAL    MONARCHY 

The  numbers  of  emigrants  to  Canada,  the 
States,  and  South  America  had  been  increasing 
in  an  alarming  manner  for  many  years.  The 
large  band  of  men  who  left  their  country 
might  be  divided  into  two  classes.  The  larger 
class  was  composed  of  men  who,  weary  of  living 
under  Austro-Hungarian  administration,  left  the 
country  for  good,  worked  for  money  to  build  up 
a  new  home  beyond  the  seas,  and  subsequently 
sent  money  to  pay  the  fares  of  their  wives  and 
children,  or  other  relatives  to  the  new  country. 

The  second  class  of  emigrant  that  swelled 
the  returns  was  the  "  season  emigrant."  He  left 
for  one,  two,  or  three  years,  supported  his  family 
at  home  while  working  abroad,  and  returned 
with  his  savings  at  the  end  of  the  time  to  enrich 
the  country  of  his  birth.     This  class  of  man 


140  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

increased  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  The 
American  Government  encouraged  the  per- 
manent emigrant  and  objected  to  the  "  season  " 
emigrant,  who  refused  to  become  naturalised, 
and  formed  part  of  a  large  foreign  element  that 
it  always  regarded  as  potentially  dangerous. 
The  Austro-Hungarian  Government,  on  the 
contrary,  naturally  encouraged  the  "  season " 
emigrant,  and  did  everything  possible  to  deter 
men  from  agricultural  countries  from  emigrating 
permanently. 

During  the  Balkan  wars  the  subject-races, 
always  oppressed  by  the  Central  Government, 
were  subjected  to  much  harsh  treatment  because 
disorders  were  feared.  Repressive  measures 
were  carried  out  very  cruelly ;  no  allowance  was 
made  for  race  and  natural  sympathy  with  their 
relatives  across  the  border.  The  governors 
cared  nothing  if  they  could  cow  the  population 
into  obedience.  The  more  independent  spirits 
naturally  escaped  beyond  the  seas  to  avoid  per- 
secution. The  mobilisation  and  the  long  time 
that  the  army  remained  on  the  frontiers  made 
the  Slavs  fear  that  a  war  was  coming.  They 
did  not  desire  to  fight  against  the  Serbs  nor  the 
Russians.  The  Austro-Italians  who  inhabit  the 
southern  coast-line  and  man  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian fleet  did  not  wish  to  be  called  upon  to 


EMIGRATION  PROMOTED  BY  GERMANY  141 

fight  against  Italy.  Thus  almost  all  the  in- 
habitants near  the  coast  considered  it  better  to 
get  away  while  they  could,  and  emigration  on 
a  vast  scale  began.  Whole  regions  were  de- 
populated. It  was  impossible  to  move  off  the 
main  route  of  travel  in  Austria-Hungary  at  this 
period  without  being  literally  besieged  by 
would-be  emigrants.  How  could  they  learn 
English.^  Could  it  be  done  by  correspond- 
ence ?  What  other  qualifications  were  necessary 
for  emigrants  to  the  States  ?  It  seemed  as  if  the 
whole  agricultural  population  was  packing  up 
to  leave. 

The  Emperor  once  wished  to  send  some  rare 
game  to  New  Zealand,  and  asked  for  a  couple 
of  men  to  accompany  them.  The  entire  country- 
side offered  to  travel  with  them  to  the  far-off 
land,  intending  never  to  return.  Istria,  Hun- 
gary, Galicia,  and  the  Bukowina  swarmed  with 
emigration  agents.  These  agents  were  quite 
unscrupulous  in  their  methods.  They  simply 
desired  to  make  money  quickly.  They  got  the 
usual  bonus  from  the  companies  on  each  emi- 
grant induced  to  travel  by  their  line,  and  besides 
were  subsidised  by  big  companies  who  wished 
to  populate  large  tracts  of  land  abroad.  These 
companies  promised  the  emigrants  free  hold- 
ings.    The  peasant,  who  was  greedy  for  free- 


142         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

hold  land,  naturally  jumped  at  the  offer,  and 
left  his  village  without  much  persuasion.  The 
agents,  knowing  full  well  that  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Government  must  not  get  information  as 
to  the  way  in  which  the  country  was  being 
literally  bled  of  its  best  military  material, 
shipped  the  young  men  of  military  age  via 
Bremen  or  Hamburg.  The  wives  and  children 
went  via  Trieste  or  Fiume.  Thus  the  figures 
sent  in  to  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government 
gave  no  indication  of  what  was  going  on.  This 
business  went  on  undetected  for  about  ten 
years. 

Suddenly  the  explosion  came.  Archduke 
Francis  Ferdinand,  the  heir  to  the  throne,  dis- 
covered that  a  hundred  thousand  recruits  fit 
for  service  had  got  away  in  a  single  year.  An 
inquiry  was  held  into  the  matter.  A  ramifica- 
tion of  frauds,  such  as  could  only  exist  where 
the  officials  were  in  sympathy  with  the  popula- 
tion, was  discovered.  In  many  cases  boys  were 
registered  as  girls  with  female  names.  When 
they  grew  up  they  left  the  country  or  remained 
in  some  remote  village  where  no  one  had  any 
interest  to  reveal  their  presence.  Their  em- 
ployers did  not  want  to  spare  them  for  the  army. 
Others  whose  mothers  had  not  been  sufficiently 
far-seeing    to    arrange    matters    early    in    life 


EMIGRATION  PROMOTED  BY  GERMANY  143 

emigrated,  with  documents  borrowed  from  a 
friend  for  the  occasion.  The  documents  were 
then  sent  back  by  messenger  over  the  frontier 
to  the  rightful  owner.  When  either  of  these 
methods  was  impracticable,  medical  certificates 
testifying  unfitness  were  procured.  Certificates 
of  this  kind  were  cheap.  The  demand  was  so 
great  that  there  was  a  keen  competition,  and 
military  doctors  were  not  able  to  stand  out  for 
large  bribes,  especially  in  out-of-the-way  places. 
The  feeling  of  the  whole  country  was  with  the 
man  who  refused  to  fight  for  the  German  and 
Magyar  overlords. 

A  number  of  emigration  agents  were  hastily 
clapped  into  prison,  travelling  offices  were 
closed,  and  a  minute  investigation  was 
begun. 

Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand,  who  undertook 
the  task  himself,  soon  discovered  that  Austria- 
Hungary  had  been  drained  of  its  best  fighting 
material  by  Germany.  Cheap  passages  had 
been  offered  to  emigrants  by  the  Hamburg  and 
Bremen  lines.  They  were  no  doubt  anxious  to 
make  substantial  profits.  He  went  into  the 
figures  and  was  startled  to  find  that  the  heavy 
Government  subsidies  enabled  them  to  carry., 
emigrants  at  a  loss.  He  immediately  detected 
the  hand  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm  behind  this.    Ger- 


144         SEVEN    YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

many  had  robbed  her  Poles  of  their  land  in 
order  to  colonise  German  Poland  with  Teutons. 
The  Kaiser  was  now  trying  to  drain  Austria- 
Hungary  of  its  Slav  population  and  to  replace 
them  by  German  emigrants.  That  was  the 
meaning  of  the  great  emigrant  traffic  and  of  the 
secrecy  with  which  it  had  been  carried  on. 

Francis  Ferdinand  was  furious  when  he  dis- 
covered the  truth.  Men  of  military  age  were 
not  allowed  to  cross  the  frontier  without  explain- 
ing where  they  were  going. 

The  emigrants,  however,  got  away  in 
hundreds  every  week,  in  spite  of  all  restric- 
tions. The  trouble  that  had  been  made  about 
recruits  leaving  the  country  convinced  people 
on  the  frontiers  and  at  the  sea  coast  that  a  great 
war  was  coming.  The  Slavs  and  the  Italians, 
who  were  determined  not  to  be  involved,  took 
train  to  the  nearest  frontier  station  and  simply 
walked  across  without  passports.  It  was  soon 
discovered  that  as  the  German  emigration 
figures  fell,  the  numbers  of  young  men  of  mili- 
tary age  leaving  Russia  and  Italy  for  the  States 
increased.  Emigration  had  not  been  stopped ; 
it  had  only  been  diverted  to  other  channels. 
This  discovery  enraged  the  Austrian  Govern- 
ment. 

Sentinels   were    posted   on   the    frontiers   to 


EMIGRATION  PROMOTED  BY  GERMANY  145 

watch  for  young  men,  but  as  the  sentinels  be- 
longed to  the  disaffected  races  the  men  got  past 
all  the  same. 

The  restriction  upon  emigration  pressed 
particularly  hardly  upon  the  Bosnian  Slavs. 
The  seething  discontent  that  had  increased 
every  year  since  the  annexation  would  never 
have  become  dangerous  had  the  restless  spirits 
been  allowed  to  leave  for  the  States.  Families 
would  have  felt  that  their  sons  were  safe  from 
the  bad  treatment  in  the  army  and  would  have 
waited  patiently  until  they  had  enough  money 
to  join  them  in  the  States.  The  sudden  check- 
ing of  all  these  hopes,  the  shutting  of  the  only 
door  of  escape,  brought  the  discontent  to  a 
head.  There  were  rumours  of  disaffection 
among  the  subject-races  everywhere.  Sure  of  a 
warm  welcome  from  their  fellow-countrymen 
on  the  other  side  should  trouble  force  them  to 
leave,  the  people  along  the  frontiers  became 
very  restless.  There  was  every  indication  that 
the  Austro  -  Hungarian  conglomeration  of 
nationalities  and  States  could  not  be  kept 
together  much  longer.  Archduke  Francis 
Ferdinand  was  pleased  at  these  indications. 
He,  in  common  with  the  remainder  of  the  mili- 
tary party,  was  looking  for  an  excuse  for  a  war. 
Thus  he  and  the  army  put  more  pressure  upon 

L 


146  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

the  Serbs  in  Hungary  instead  of  relieving  them 
from  some  of  the  grosser  forms  of  oppression. 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  encouraged  the  Archduke  in 
this  policy.  He  wished  Austria-Hungary  to 
realise  that  it  had  reached  a  crisis  in  its  history 
that  could  only  be  solved  by  a  war. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  AGRARIANS  AND  THE  SHORTAGE  OF  FOOD 

The  Agrarians,  or  great  landowners,  both  in 
Austria  and  Hungary  were  largely  responsible 
for  the  Great  War.  If  commercial  relations 
between  Austria  and  the  Balkans  had  been 
satisfactory  there  would  have  been  no  discon- 
tent. The  Balkans  are  agricultural  lands ;  large 
crops  of  corn,  vegetable  products,  and  meat 
were  produced.  Hungary  is  also  a  rich  agricul- 
tural country,  and  supplies  its  own  needs  en- 
tirely, with  a  surplus  for  Austria.  Austria  and 
Germany  cannot  exist  on  the  produce  of  their 
land.  Both  countries  have  densely  populated 
manufacturing  districts  that  must  be  supplied 
with  food.  Hungary  wished  to  obtain  the  best 
prices  for  her  commodities.  She  therefore 
objected  to  Balkan  products  being  imported. 
The  goods  had  to  enter  over  her  railways.    She 

'''  L    2 


148         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

prevented  their  coming  in  by  imposing  vexatious 
restrictions  and  refusing  cargoes  on  all  kinds  of 
grounds.  Austria  would  not  forbid  the  import 
of  meat  and  other  products  directly.  This 
would  have  prejudiced  her  political  relations 
with  the  Balkans.  Nor  did  she  wish  to 
discourage  the  Balkan  peoples  from  breeding 
cattle.  The  shortage  of  meat  in  Austria  might 
force  the  Government  to  import  it  at  any  time. 
So  she  took  a  most  unworthy  course.  She 
allowed  the  Agrarians  to  carry  on  their  nefari- 
ous methods  and  thus  earned  the  bitter  hatred 
of  the  Balkan  peoples,  especially  of  Servia  and 
Montenegro.  For  some  years  cattle-breeders 
in  the  Balkan  countries  did  not  realise  why 
their  products  were  returned  so  frequently. 
Finally,  discovering  that  they  were  simply  the 
playthings  of  the  Agrarians,  they  ceased  to 
breed  cattle  and  turned  their  vast  pastures  into 
corn  land.  The  Agrarians,  men  who  travelled 
but  little  and  had  no  grasp  of  the  speed  with 
which  innovations  are  introduced  and  new  plans 
adopted  in  this  century,  were  sadly  surprised 
and  not  a  little  dismayed  when  they  discovered 
that  the  Serbs  and  other  Balkan  countries  had 
no  more  meat  for  sale.  Every  summer  there 
was  a  considerable  shortage  of  meat  in  Austria 
and  the  cities  of  Hungary.    This  was  due  to  a 


AGRARIANS  AND  SHORTAGE  OF  FOOD  149 

number  of  causes  insignificant  in  themselves, 
but  far-reaching  as  regards  the  history  of 
Europe.  The  butchers  said  the  regular  annual 
shortage  was  largely  owing  to  supplies  being 
sent  to  Germany,  to  Bohemia,  and  the  Tyrol 
in  the  tourist  season,  when  large  quantities  of 
meat  were  required  for  the  foreigners  who  came 
into  the  country.  The  real  reason  was  that 
the  country  was  being  drained  of  its  best 
blood  by  emigration.  Farmers  were  forced 
to  kill  off  their  cattle  because  there  were 
no  shepherds  to  care  for  it.  The  day 
of  the  small  peasant-proprietor  was  over. 
He  had  left  for  the  States.  It  was  found 
more  profitable  to  grow  corn  than  to  keep  cattle 
for  the  market  on  the  immense  farms  on  the 
great  Hungarian  plains.  No  one  had  realised 
that  the  Balkan  States  had  rendered  themselves 
independent  of  Austria-Hungary,  and  that  no 
supply  would  be  forthcoming  even  when  the 
frontiers  were  thrown  open.  The  Agrarians, 
when  they  heard  of  the  shortage,  suggested  that 
the  people  should  do  without  meat.  Riots 
ensued,  and  violent  scenes  occurred  in  Vienna. 
The  military  was  brought  out  to  disperse  the 
crowd.  Hungarian  hussars  were  brought  from 
Budapesth  to  shoot  on  a  crowd  chiefly  made  up 
of    Germans    and    Slavs.      As    the    soldiers 


150         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

rode  forward  to  charge  the  people  in  front 
of  the  Vienna  Rathhaus,  women  climbed  into 
their  saddles,  and,  rendered  desperate  by 
fear  for  their  husbands  and  children,  wound 
themselves  round  the  waists  of  the  hussars,  thus 
effectually  preventing  them  from  using  their 
swords.  Some  men  had  four  women  hang- 
ing from  their  waists  as  they  charged  upon  the 
crowd.  The  horses,  trained  for  show  and 
parade,  were  very  careful  not  to  dislodge  the 
extra  riders  and  advanced  at  an  amble.  The 
Hungarian  officers  who  led  the  men  tried  to 
incite  them  to  show  a  different  spirit,  but  al- 
though they  charged  the  crowd  not  more  than  a 
hundred  civilians  were  seriously  injured.  The 
men  cut  the  air  above  their  heads  with  their 
long  sabres,  and  although  they  were  Hun- 
garians and  Magyars,  and  were  faced  by  a 
crowd  they  disliked  and  despised,  humanitarian 
feelings  were  stronger  than  the  commands  of 
their  officers.  Many  people  in  Vienna  that  day 
doubted  whether  conscripts  would  ever  fight 
against  the  populace.  Before  night,  however, 
the  spirit  of  the  troops  changed.  The  people, 
desperate  with  hunger,  put  up  barricades  in 
some  of  the  chief  streets;  they  tore  down  the 
gas  lamps  and  set  fire  to  the  stream  of  coal-gas 
thus  released.     They  plundered  the  shops  of 


AGRARIANS  AND  SHORTAGE  OF  FOOD  151 

unpopular  tradesmen  and  distributed  eatables 
among  the  crowd.  When  the  troops  appeared 
they  were  received  by  a  shower  of  stones,  while 
even  the  pavements  were  torn  up  to  provide 
missiles.  The  soldiers,  thoroughly  enraged, 
turned  a  murderous  fire  upon  the  people.  The 
city  was  put  under  martial  law,  and  everyone 
who  ventured  through  the  streets  was  searched 
for  weapons.  Walking  the  streets  was  a  dan- 
gerous pastime  for  strangers,  as  sentries  only 
challenged  once  and  shot  if  the  command  to 
halt  were  not  complied  with.  Similar  riots  on 
a  larger  scale  took  place  in  Budapesth.  They 
were  suppressed  in  a  more  brutal  manner  than 
those  in  Vienna,  while  in  Prague  the  situation 
became  so  alarming  that  a  revolution  was 
feared.  It  was  then  that  the  Agrarian  party 
became  alarmed,  and  agreed  to  a  suggestion 
for  the  importation  of  frozen  meat  from  Argen- 
tina. A  committee  of  officials  and  experts  was 
sent  to  Argentina  to  arrange  for  the  sending  of 
frozen  meat  to  Trieste.  The  Argentine  Govern- 
ment was  ready  to  comply  with  all  the  very 
intricate  demands  and  requirements  of  the  Aus- 
trian Government,  and,  being  unversed  in  the 
history  of  the  Balkans,  believed  that  Austria 
was  capable  of  a  perfectly  straightforward  deal. 
One    party    of    the    Government,    seeing    the 


152         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

gravity  of  the  disturbances,  really  wished  to 
alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  people  by  the 
importation  of  frozen  meat.  The  Agrarians, 
on  whose  head  the  blood-guilt  of  the 
European  war  really  rests,  played  the 
same  unstatesmanlike  trick  upon  Argentina 
as  they  had  successfully  carried  out  in 
the  case  of  the  Balkans.  The  first  load  of 
meat  duly  arrived.  It  was  sold  immediately. 
This  did  not  suit  the  short-sighted  Agrarians, 
who  immediately  began  a  plan  for  the  defeat 
of  the  innovation.  With  the  consent  of  the 
Government  they  began  an  agitation  against 
frozen  meat.  Butchers  circulated  stories  that  it 
was  unsound,  and  as  it  was  sold  at  prices  that 
corresponded  very  nearly  with  those  of  fresh 
meat,  it  naturally  remained  on  their  hands. 
This  was  seized  upon  as  an  excuse  by  the 
Government  to  stop  the  import  of  any  more 
meat.  Even  then  the  Government  could  not 
act  with  common  straightforwardness.  The 
cargo  was  allowed  to  come,  and  turned  back  at 
Trieste.  The  boat  ran  over  to  an  Italian  port, 
where  the  meat  was  sold  without  difficulty.  But 
Austrian  credit  had  suffered  largely.  The 
political  relations  with  Argentina  were  strained, 
and  the  country  lost  many  a  good  customer 
through  her  dishonesty.     This  mattered  little 


AGRARIANS  AND  SHORTAGE  OF  FOOD  153 

to  the  Agrarians,  who  got  good  prices  for  their 
meat. 

Another  attempt  was  made  to  introduce  sea- 
fish  for  popular  consumption.  The  Govern- 
ment put  a  quick  goods  train  service  on  from 
the  Adriatic,  and  with  cars  especially  con- 
structed for  keeping  fresh  fish  in  ice  through 
the  hot  nights.  This  did  not  suit  the  Agrarians, 
who  had  immense  breeding-places  for  carp  and 
who  reared  trout  in  their  streams.  As  was  to  be 
expected,  the  trains  were  delayed,  and  the  fish 
reached  Vienna  and  Budapesth  in  a  state  unfit 
for  food.  No  statesman  in  Austria-Hungary 
raised  his  voice  against  this  trickery.  No  one 
cared  whether  the  people  starved  or  not,  pro- 
vided the  Agrarians  were  satisfied.  Archdukes, 
who  might  have  raised  their  voices  and  have 
made  them  heard,  were  themselves  engaged  in 
trade.  They  had  immense  dairies  and  other 
establishments,  where  the  produce  of  their 
lands  was  sold.  Their  interests  were  contrary 
to  those  of  the  people  and  to  those  of  the 
country  at  large.  They  sided  with  the 
Agrarians  in  what  was  a  crisis  in  their  own 
history  and  that  of  their  country.  Meat  riots 
were  succeeded  by  disturbances  about  house 
accommodation.  In  order  to  keep  up  rents, 
regulations    preventing    the   building    of    new 


154         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

blocks  of  flats  were  made  in  both  Vienna  and 
Budapesth.  Similar  enactments  existed  in 
many  other  large  cities  in  Austria-Hungary, 
but  they  pressed  hardest  of  all  in  the  capitals. 
The  landlords,  freed  from  healthy  competition, 
not  only  demanded  high  rents,  but  they  refused 
to  accept  tenants  with  children.  Men  well  able 
to  pay  high  rents  were  forced  to  go  from  house 
to  house  begging  the  porter  to  show  them  flats, 
and  were  turned  away  time  and  time  again 
simply  because  they  had  the  misfortune  to  have 
a  family  consisting  not  of  six  healthy  children, 
but  of  one  quiet  child  of  ten.  At  one  period 
things  were  so  bad  that  a  workman  with  six 
children,  who  had  been  unable  to  get  accom- 
modation anywhere,  camped  out  with  his  family 
on  the  Graben,  the  chief  promenade  in  the  very 
centre  of  the  city.  Others  knocked  up  wooden 
shanties  on  Crown  land  near  the  mountains.  At 
last  the  city  decided  to  put  up  a  number  of  sheds 
for  the  accommodation  of  persons  who  had  been 
expelled  from  the  flats  because  they  had  chil- 
dren. In  Budapesth  things  were  much  worse. 
There  were  riots,  and  the  effigies  of  unpopular 
landlords  were  burned.  Troops  were  called  out 
and  rioters  shot,  but  this  brutal  suppression  of 
the  working  class  only  increased  the  irritation 
felt  against  the  Government.    It  was  clear  even 


AGRARIANS  AND  SHORTAGE  OF  FOOD  155 

to  the  uninitiated  that  affairs  were  reaching  a 
climax.  The  discontent  that  had  begun  in  the 
working  classes  was  quickly  spreading  to  the 
small  employe  and  even  to  the  professional 
classes  and  officers  in  the  army.  This  was  due 
not  only  to  lack  of  food  or  accommodation,  but 
to  the  enormous  increase  in  the  cost  of  living, 
which  had  its  root  in  the  alarming  rise  in  taxa- 
tion. This  taxation  was  due  to  the  two 
mobilisations  during  the  Annexation  crisis  and 
the  Balkan  wars,  which  had  cost  Austria-Hun- 
gary many  millions.  The  discovery  that  many 
things  essential  to  an  army  were  lacking  had 
led  to  reckless  expenditure.  Not  only  had 
money  been  spent  on  legitimate  needs,  but  im- 
mense swindles  had  been  perpetrated  in  con- 
nection with  army  supplies.  Highly-placed 
personages  had  been  connected  with  these  inci- 
dents which  consequently  were  never  properly 
sifted,  those  most  deeply  implicated  having  the 
power  to  prevent  investigation.  Further,  mis- 
takes on  a  vast  scale  were  made.  The  type  of 
cannon  recommended  for  the  army,  and  sup- 
plied to  all  the  regiments,  proved  to  be  quite 
useless  when  employed  in  frontier  skirmishes. 
It  was  replaced  by  new  weapons  at  enormous 
cost.  Other  occurrences  of  the  same  kind  led 
to  the  Budget  being  far  above  the  yearly  income 


156         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

of  the  State.  It  became  apparent  to  all 
responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the  State 
that  something  must  happen.  The  strain 
was  too  great — a  breakdown  somewhere  was 
inevitable. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

COUNT  LEOPOLD  BERCHTOLD  AND   COUNT   STEPAN 
TISZA,   THE   MEN   WHO   DECIDED   ON   WAR 

Count  Berchtold,  the  Austro-Hungarian  ^ 
Minister  who  was  responsible  for  the  policy  that  "^ 
led  to  the  Great  War,  is  the  prototype  of  the 
Austro-Hungarian  aristocrat,  and  essentially  a 
gentleman.  He  was  for  this  reason  totally  un- 
fit to  cope  with  the  crowd  of  unscrupulous  pro- 
German  politicians  around  him.  He  was 
brought  up  in  the  old  school,  and  no  one  who 
knows  him  personally  would  hesitate  to  describe 
him  as  a  gentleman  far  excellence.  The  fine, 
delicate  features,  the  slim,  slender  hands,  and 
a  bearing  that  has  something  almost  apologetic, 
are  characteristic  of  the  man.  He  is  the  ideal 
landowner  and  feudal  lord,  able  to  manage 
large  estates,  a  merciful  landlord  who  would 
remit  rent  in  bad  years,  a  kindly  neighbour,  and 
valued  friend. 

157 


158         SEVEN    YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

Count  Berchtold's  greatest  interest  was  horse- 
racing,  and  his  large  fortune  enabled  him  to 
keep  a  splendid  stud.  He  invariably  attended 
all  the  big  race-meetings,  but  he  was  there 
merely  to  watch  the  horses,  not  to  meet  the 
representatives  of  the  diplomatic  and  political 
world  like  his  fellow-officials.  His  eye  never 
wandered  from  the  course  during  the  whole 
meeting.  Other  politicians  never  so  much  as 
glanced  at  the  horses;  they  were  concentrating 
their  attention  on  more  important  matters.  A 
secretary  posted  them  in  the  events  to  enable 
them  to  discuss  them  when  necessary,  to  keep 
up  the  farce  that  they  were  there  to  watch  the 
horses.  They  watched  their  opportunity  to  slip 
up  to  some  great  man  and  discuss  some  point 
at  issue  between  them  in  a  friendly  and  casual 
way.  The  Foreign  Minister  knew  nothing  of 
such  manoeuvres.  If  he  wished  to  discuss  a 
delicate  matter  with  the  Ambassador  of  some 
unfriendly  Power,  he  sought  him  in  his  Em- 
bassy and  at  once  raised  the  question  to  an  affair 
of  State  instead  of  ascertaining  in  a  non-com- 
mittal way  how  matters  stood  before  formu- 
lating a  demand.  Count  Berchtold  was  essen- 
tially an  honest  and  straightforward  man  when 
he  took  over  the  onerous  duties  of  Foreign 
Minister,  and  had  no  slur  upon  his  character. 


COUNT  BERCHTOLD  AND  COUNT  TISZA   159 

He  was  very  loth  to  assume  the  responsibilities 
of  office,  and  only  accepted  at  the  Emperor's 
direct  request.  He  felt  that  he  was  not  fit  to 
take  the  helm  of  State  at  such  a  critical  moment. 
There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the  Count 
was  correct  in  the  estimate  of  his  own  powers. 
It  would  have  required  a  much  less  simple- 
minded  man  to  guide  the  country  through  the 
troubled  waters  which  seethed  all  around.  The 
Hungarian  aristocrat,  perhaps  more  than  the 
Austrian  noble,  lives  a  somewhat  secluded  life 
far  from  railroad  and  market  town.  He  is 
brought  up  in  the  same  way  as  the  old  feudal 
barons  in  the  Middle  Ages.  He  is  surrounded 
by  a  swarm  of  servants,  whom  he  regards  more 
in  the  light  of  serfs  than  free  men.  He  fills 
the  obligations  as  well  as  enjoys  the  privileges 
of  a  feudal  overlord.  The  young  aristocrat 
enjoys  life.  It  is  made  up  of  hunting,  often  in 
the  primaeval  forest;  he  is  constantly  invited 
to  shooting-parties,  and  spends  his  time  in  that 
and  other  manly  and  outdoor  occupations.  He 
is  always  an  expert  climber,  can  stalk  a  chamois, 
and  would  never  fear  for  his  footing  on  the 
most  precipitous  rocks.  He  can  fence,  box,  and 
is,  of  course,  an  expert  swordsman.  He  never 
knows  when  he  may  be  called  upon  to  fight  a 
duel,  with  any  weapons.     He  learns  to  speak 


160         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

four  or  five  languages  from  native  tutors.  He 
must  be  proficient  in  German,  French,  and,  if 
possible,  English  and  Italian,  before  he  leaves 
the  schoolroom.  He  acquires  these  languages 
without  trouble,  often  from  his  nurses,  and 
learns  to  ride  while  still  little  more  than  a  baby. 
All  these  accomplishments  fit  him  to  cut  a  figure 
in  the  fashionable  world,  but  form  a  poor  equip- 
ment for  battling  with  foreign  diplomatists,  who 
have  had  the  advantage  of  a  training  in  a  much 
severer  school.  Even  if  the  education,  which  he 
receives  at  the  hands  of  a  tutor,  chosen  rather 
for  his  sporting  proclivities  than  for  his  erudi- 
tion, is  completed  by  a  university  course,  no 
professor  in  Austria-Hungary  would  venture  to 
deal  with  a  young  aristocrat  in  the  same  fashion 
as  with  a  student  belonging  to  the  middle 
classes.  Thus,  although  the  aristocrat  is  pecu- 
liarly suited  to  occupy  important  positions  on 
account  of  his  birth  and  manners,  he  is  fre- 
quently unfit  to  deal  with  very  intricate 
problems  or  to  match  his  wits  against  those  of 
other  politicians.  Count  Berchtold  was  a  great 
favourite  in  Vienna  because  of  his  hospitality. 
The  Hungarians  are  known  far  and  wide  for 
their  hearty  hospitality,  and  he  even  excelled 
the  traditions  of  his  race.  He  gave  entertain- 
ments at  the  Ballplatz,  the  Austro-Hungarian 


COUNT  BERCHTOLD  AND  COUNT  TISZA   161 

Foreign  Ministry,  close  to  the  Hofburg,  that 
were  unique  of  their  kind.  He  had  a  kindly 
word  for  everyone  who  entered  the  vast  salles 
that  opened  one  into  the  other  at  the  top  of  the 
great  marble  staircase.  Beneath  the  historic 
portraits  he  entertained  Archduchess  and 
peasant  deputy  with  unvarying  affability. 
When  he  was  seen  in  other  social  centres  it 
was  always  conceded  that  he  was  the  most  dis- 
tinguished-looking man  in  the  room.  The  tall, 
dark  figure  flitted  restlessly  to  and  fro,  always 
anxious  to  contribute  his  part  to  making  the 
entertainment  a  success.  But  close  observers 
noted  something  in  the  formation  of  the  skull 
and  the  glance  of  the  eye  that  denoted  lack  of 
firmness.  He  was  a  man  who  could  be  per- 
suaded against  his  better  judgment.  Had  he 
been  called  upon,  like  most  of  his  predecessors 
in  ofhce,  to  be  a  mere  figurehead,  all  would  have 
been  well,  but  under  the  actual  circumstances  it 
was  fatal  to  the  peace  of  Europe.  It  is  more 
than  probable  that  Berchtold  was  chosen  to  fill 
the  important  post  at  the  suggestion  of  Count 
Tchirsky,  or  some  other  emissary  of  Kaiser 
Wilhelm,  who  desired  to  have  a  weak  man  in 
power  in  Vienna. 

Once  he  had  taken  oihce.  Count  Berchtold 
discovered  that  all  quiet  was  at  an  end.    There 

M 


1C2         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

were  constant  attacks  upon  him  in  the  German 
subsidised  Press  of  Vienna.  During  the  long 
diplomatic  struggles  that  took  place  while  he 
held  office  he  was  accused  of  hesitation  and  of 
vacillation.  He  was,  however,  merely  trying 
to  steer  a  middle  course  between  the  two 
policies  dictated  by  the  two  parties  within  the 
Empire.  The  Emperor  was  firm  in  his  desire 
to  die  in  peace.  His  reign  had  begun  with  the 
loss  of  territory  following  upon  defeat  on  the 
battlefield.  It  was  well  known  that  he  abso- 
lutely refused  to  contemplate  any  policy  that 
might  lead  the  Empire  into  further  hostilities. 
It  was  the  Emperor  who  sent  the  autograph 
letter  to  the  Czar  in  the  Annexation  year, 
begging  him  to  allow  him  to  go  down  to  the 
grave  in  peace,  and  to  desist  from  a  war  which 
seemed  inevitable.  On  the  other  hand,  Archduke 
Francis  Ferdinand  was  anxious  for  a  war.  He 
was  at  the  head  of  the  military  party,  composed 
of  the  younger  aristocrats,  who  were  more  or 
less  tools  in  the  hands  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm. 
They  comprehended  nothing  of  what  war  meant 
at  this  period  in  the  world's  history.  They  sus- 
pected nothing  of  the  plans  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm, 
who  pushed  the  Emperor  of  Austria  into  the 
foreground  when  he  wished  the  scales  to  be 
turned  in  favour  of  peace,  and  skilfully  brought 


COUNT  BERCHTOLD  AND  COUNT  TISZA    163 

forward  the  military  party  when  he  wished 
Austria-Hungary  to  threaten  war.  Count 
Berchtold  was  very  sensitive  to  public  opinion ; 
the  attacks  made  upon  him  by  the  Press,  hint- 
ing that  he  was  lacking  in  courage,  annoyed 
him.  They  also  prepared  public  opinion  for 
war.  Austria-Hungary  was  depicted  as  the 
sufferer  from  a  hundred  slights — as  the  down- 
trodden country  that  was  forced  to  bear  all 
kinds  of  insults.  Insults  from  Servia,  insults 
from  Montenegro,  had  been  accepted  lying 
down.  All  news  of  what  the  small  Balkan 
States  had  to  endure  before  they  made  the  pro- 
tests was,  of  course,  suppressed.  Their  point 
of  view  was  never  considered.  Caricatures  of 
Count  Berchtold,  showing  him  on  his  way  to 
Salonica  but  frightened  to  go  on  by  the  claws  of 
the  Russian  bear,  were  published  in  the  comic 
papers.  The  lengths  to  which  these  papers 
went  in  turning  the  Foreign  Minister  to  ridicule 
— a  deadly  crime  in  Austria-Hungary — was 
indicative  of  the  strength  of  the  Imperial  Ger- 
mans in  Austria.  They  were  even  able  to  pro- 
tect their  minions  against  the  Austrian  censor. 
When  any  politician  showed  indications  of 
strong-mindedness  and  of  a  disposition  to  resist 
German  influence,  the  terrors  of  the  German 
subsidised  Press  were  turned  upon  him.     He 

M    2 


164         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

invariably  had  to  go.  The  Press  in  Count 
Berchtold's  case,  however,  was  merely  used  to 
bring  him  to  a  sense  of  his  own  impotence  and 
to  deceive  him  as  to  the  state  of  public  opinion. 
The  Germans  did  not  desire  his  dismissal, 
although  they  frequently  had  rumours  of  his 
impending  resignation  published.  His  being 
in  office  suited  their  purpose  much  too  well  for 
them  to  wish  to  see  him  leave  his  place.  Count 
Tchirsky  and  other  pro-Prussians  filled  the 
air  with  rumours  of  the  Emperor's  inability  to 
rule.  They  said  that  the  old  man  was  in  his 
dotage.  This  sounded  reasonable,  although 
it  was  by  no  means  the  case.  Count  Berchtold 
was  naturally  inclined  to  believe  these  reports, 
as,  although  he  was  very  loyal  to  his  sovereign, 
he,  like  many  other  men  of  the  modern  school, 
could  not  comprehend  the  monarch's  peculiar 
idiosyncrasies,  and  was  apt  to  mistake  his 
religious  fervour  for  an  expression  of  feeble- 
mindedness. This  rendered  Berchtold  ready 
to  believe  the  insinuations  that  were  cunningly 
suggested  to  him  that  the  Emperor  could  not 
be  trusted  with  secrets  of  State.  He  might  tell 
all  to  his  father-confessor,  who  would  report  it 
to  Rome,  where  the  hated  Italians  might  learn 
it,  said  the  German  diplomatists.  Berchtold 
thus  entered  on  a  course  that  led  to  the  undoing 


COUNT  BERCHTOLD  AND  COUNT  TISZA   165 

of  his  country.  He  acted  without  consulting 
the  Emperor,  and  concealed  important  facts 
from  him  at  times  of  crisis.  His  tempters  no 
doubt  showed  him  good  and  sufficient  reason 
why  he  should  do  this.  The  course  was,  how- 
ever, a  lapse  from  honesty — an  honesty  that  had 
been  Berchtold's  chief  virtue.  So  long  as  the 
supreme  power  was  vested  in  one  man,  that 
man,  whatever  his  age,  should  have  been  in  pos- 
session of  the  full  facts  of  the  case.  The  Em- 
peror of  Austria  alone  had  to  decide  whether 
there  should  be  peace  or  war,  and  his  Foreign 
Minister  had  no  right  to  deceive  him  on  any 
point.  Count  Berchtold  and  the  German 
Ambassador  had  guilty  secrets  between  them. 
It  was  thus  that  the  Ambassador  got  his  hold 
over  the  Foreign  Minister  and  used  it  merci- 
lessly. The  country  gentleman  could  not  be- 
lieve that  the  German  aristocrats  around  him 
were  liars  and  were  capable  of  acts  unthought- 
of  by  persons  of  his  simple  creed. 

History  will  pronounce  judgment  on  Berch- 
told. Contemporaries  see  him  as  a  weak  man, 
who  lost  his  country's  cause  through  a  complete 
inability  to  cope  with  the  scoundrels  who  sur- 
rounded him.  He  was  unable  to  comprehend 
the  peculiar  art  of  lying  that  German  diplomacy 
had  brought  to  a  fine  art,  the  sphinx-like  pro- 


166         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

mises  that  could  be  made  and  interpreted  ac- 
cording to  need.  A  man  of  less  honourable 
instincts  would  have  been  more  capable  of  deal- 
ing with  the  situation ;  a  man  of  character  might 
have  saved  his  country. 

Count  Tisza,  the  Hungarian  Premier,  was  a 
man  of  iron  will.  He  was  frequently  called 
the  Hungarian  "  Cromwell,"  "the  man  with  the 
mailed  fist."  He  had  fought  more  duels  than 
any  other  Hungarian  aristocrat,  and  his  courage 
was  well  proven.  Not  only  had  he  physical 
courage,  but  moral  courage  as  well.  Like 
Count  Berchtold,  he  had  received  the  educa- 
tion and  training  of  a  Hungarian  aristocrat. 
He  is  an  autocrat  of  the  old  school,  whose  strong 
will  has  never  been  broken  by  opposition. 
Possessed  of  great  strength  of  character,  but 
educated  in  an  atmosphere  of  unreality,  he  had 
no  grasp  of  what  was  really  happening  in  Europe. 
Tisza  always  prided  himself  on  his  loyalty  to 
the  Emperor.  When  the  sovereign  told  him  to 
reduce  the  rebellious  Hungarian  Parliament  to 
order,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  order  the  soldiers 
to  drag  out  offending  members.  On  another 
occasion  he  had  armed  men  placed  at  the 
entrance  to  the  House  to  prevent  the  entrance 
of  all  refractory  members.  The  Emperor  and 
Tis'^za  both  looked  upon  the  Parliament  as  a 


COUNT  BERCHTOLD  AND  COUNT  TISZA    167 

necessary  evil  that  must  be  dealt  with  in  the 
best  way  circumstances  allowed.  Neither  of 
them  considered  that  the  people  had  any 
rights.  They  were  not  of  the  same  flesh  and 
blood  as  Emperors  and  Counts. 

This  autocratic  idea,  born  of  circumstances 
and  surroundings,  led  both  men  to  act  in  a 
most  tyrannous  way  towards  the  people.  Tisza 
especially  had  a  profound  contempt  for  the 
mob.  He  looked  upon  the  subject-peoples  as 
beneath  contempt.  Neither  he  nor  his  Imperial 
master  could  brook  Notes  send  by  the  Serbs.  It 
seemed  to  them  the  acme  of  impertinence  that 
a  nation  of  so  little  importance  should  dare  to 
address  the  Emperor  of  Austria  as  an  equal. 

Count  Tisza  has  always  been  most  anxious 
to  make  Hungary  equal  to  Austria.  He  con- 
sidered that  the  two  nations  should  enjoy  equal 
rights.  He  resented  the  fact  that  the  Court 
was  established  at  Vienna,  and  that  Budapesth 
always  took  a  second  place.  Tisza  and  every 
Hungarian  statesmen  knew  that  the  common 
funds  were  spent  for  the  benefit  of  Austria 
rather  than  for  that  of  Hungary.  At  the  same 
time  Hungary,  who  claimed  equal  rights  with 
Austria,  always  refused  to  take  a  half  of  the 
common  expenses  on  her  shoulders;  the  Hun- 
garian share  was  always  a  third,  Austria  paying 


168         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

two-thirds.  Hungary  is  very  wealthy,  but  has 
very  little  ready  money.  Her  nobles  regulate 
taxation  and  take  great  care  that  the  burden 
falls  on  the  people  in  the  way  of  indirect  taxa- 
tion of  necessities.  Before  the  war  there  was 
no  income  tax  in  Hungary,  although  the 
revenues  enjoyed  by  the  great  landowners  are 
immense.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  was  very  exactly 
informed  of  the  relations  between  Austria  and 
Hungary.  He  took  pains  to  attach  Tisza  to 
his  person.  Tisza  was  invited  to  Berlin  fre- 
quently; he  was  summoned  to  confer  with  the 
Kaiser  constantly,  while  Count  Berchtold  was 
seldom  consulted.  The  Kaiser  dazzled  Tisza 
and  the  Hungarians  with  promises  of  assistance 
in  their  fight  against  Austria.  The  Kaiser 
seemed  to  be  the  only  man  who  comprehended 
their  position.  An  ambitious  and  warlike 
people,  the  Magyar  minority  could  not  be 
swamped  by  the  Slavs  within  the  kingdom,  or 
overwhelmed  by  the  Germans  in  Austria. 
Count  Tisza,  although  a  very  strong  man,  is 
not  capable  of  comprehending  a  character  like 
that  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm.  Single  of  purpose 
himself,  he  cannot  comprehend  duplicity  in 
another.  Like  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph 
and  Count  Berchtold,  he  was  duped.  He 
desired  to  go  to  war  with  Servia  because,  like 


1- 


COUNT  BERCHTOLD  AND  COUNT  TISZA   169 

Count  Berchtold,  his  personal  vanity  had  been 
hurt.  He  could  not  take  an  international  view 
of  the  situation.  The  great  Slav  peril  within 
the  Empire  seemed  more  important  to  him  than 
the  fear  of  All-German  domination. 

Count  Tisza  might  have  done  much  to  save 
his  country  from  ruin;  instead,  he  preferred  to 
see  the  subject-races  oppressed.  He  considered 
that  a  war  that  would  enable  the  Government 
to  thin  out  the  Slavs,  by  letting  them  fight  one 
against  the  other,  the  soldiers  from  within  the 
Empire  against  those  without,  would  secure  the 
supremacy  of  the  Magyars.  He  failed  to  com- 
prehend that  the  Magyars  were  to  be  thinned 
out  in  their  turn  to  make  way  for  Germans  who 
wished  to  exploit  the  rich  treasures  of  Hungary 
and  exhaust  her  mineral  wealth. 

Count  Tisza  was  a  gambler  accustomed  to 
play  with  gentlemen ;  when  he  played  at  states- 
manship with  the  German  Emperor  he  did  not 
count  upon  his  adversary  using  loaded  dice. 

The  very  uprightness  of  his  character  pre- 
vented his  suspecting  others.  The  man  in  the 
street  suspected  Kaiser  Wilhelm;  the  Premier 
did  not. 

The  Hungarian  aristocrat  had  never  been 
"up  against  life";  he  had  no  instinct  to  guide 
him.     He  fondly  believed  that  he  was  twisting 


170         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

the  Kaiser  round  his  finger  and  using  him  for 
his  own  ends.  These  ends  were  the  glorifica- 
tion of  Hungary,  for  Tisza  is  a  patriot  to  his 
finger-tips.  Unfortunately,  he  was  deeply 
imbued  with  the  sentiment  that  a  king  cannot 
commit  meannesses.  He  placed  the  Kaiser  on 
the  same  level  as  a  Hungarian  noble. 


CHAPTER  XX 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY     AS     A    MILITARY     AND     NAVAL 
POWER 

In  1907  Austria-Hungary,  where  conscription 
is  in  force,  had  an  army  of  about  three  million 
men  when  fully  mobilised.  These  men  were 
of  excellent  physique,  since  they  were  selected 
as  the  most  promising  material  among  a  number 
of  men  fit  for  service.  Every  year  when  the 
annual  contingent  of  recruits  came  up  for  ser- 
vice, a  larger  number  were  passed  as  "  fit  "  than 
could  be  put  into  training.  About  a  third  of  the 
"  fit "  were  sent  home ;  they  were  selected  by  lot, 
and  although  they  were  not  called  upon  to  serve 
immediately,  they  were  under  the  obligation  to 
do  so  when  required.  Thus  there  was  a  large 
second  line  of  untrained  men  fit  for  service  and 
ready  to  be  called  up  when  necessary.  The  high 
standard  of  efficiency  resulted  in  only  the  very 
best  material  being  selected;  there  were  many 

171 


172         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

among  the  rejected  who  could  be  called  to  the 
colours  in  time  of  necessity. 

Besides  this,  the  military  authorities  pursued 
a  definite  policy.  They  were  willing  to  grant 
exemption  to  the  city  man  who  could  be  use- 
fully employed  in  clerical  work  in  war  time,  and 
devoted  their  energies  to  training  the  peasant 
for  actual  fighting. 

All  this  resulted  in  the  official  figures  of  the 
available  men  giving  no  real  estimate  of  the 
numbers  that  w^ere  actually  available. 

Much  money  and  attention  were  devoted  to 
the  minor  branches  of  the  service.  Armament 
factories  were  increased  and  flying  fields  estab- 
lished in  connection  with  all  the  army  corps 
headquarters.  The  preparations  for  a  possible 
war,  while  being  carried  on  with  great  energy 
and  at  great  expense,  were  somewhat  delayed 
by  an  incurable  habit,  peculiar  to  the  Austrians, 
of  giving  great  attention  to  branches  of  the  ser- 
vice that  were  anything  but  essential.  Experi- 
ments were  made  in  ski-running  on  the  Alps  in 
winter.  Small  companies  of  men  were  frequently 
lost  in  the  Tyrol  while  trying  to  cross  difficult 
ground.  It  was  felt  in  the  country  generally 
that  the  attempts  to  get  over  the  glaciers  and 
snowfields  might  just  as  well  have  been  made  in 
summer,  when  there  was  not  the  same  danger 


A  MILITARY  AND  NAVAL  POWER     173 

from  avalanches,  and  even  if  war  with  Italy 
were  inevitable,  ski-running  practised  within 
view  of  the  Italian  frontier  was  not  likely  to 
calm  Italian  susceptibilities.  Aviation,  which 
had  long  been  recognised  as  the  war  weapon  of 
the  future,  was  quite  neglected.  The  Govern- 
ment refused  to  purchase  the  necessary  airships. 
The  Austrians,  with  all  their  mechanical  genius, 
were  not  able  to  make  the  motors  for  aeroplanes. 
Austrian  inventors  had  to  obtain  motors  from 
France  before  their  airships  could  fly.  The 
conservatism  of  thought  and  methods  which 
made  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government 
neglect  the  air  service,  led  them  to  misread  the 
signs  of  the  times,  and  to  allow  the  fleet  to  sink 
to  a  mere  nothing.  Although  they  were  building 
up  the  fortifications  along  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian frontier,  a  queer  optimism  made  them 
count  upon  Italy's  help  in  the  Mediterranean. 
Meanwhile  they  worked  up  their  land  fortifica- 
tions. The  Austro-Hungarian  naval  ports  are 
models  of  what  Nature  can  do  in  the  way  of 
natural  defences.  Cattaro  is  practically  impreg- 
nable from  the  sea  side.  The  gulf  winds  in  and 
out,  and  the  approach  to  the  city  can  be  de- 
fended at  every  turn.  The  military  and  naval 
authorities  felt  quite  secure  of  Cattaro,  and  it 
was  only  in  the  Annexation  year,  when  there  was 


174         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

trouble  with  Montenegro,  that  it  was  discovered 
that  the  cannon  on  the  summit  of  Mount 
Lovcen  could  be  fired  right  into  Cattaro.  The 
boundary  line  between  Austria-Hungary  and 
Montenegro  runs  close  to  the  summit  of  the 
mountain.  The  Austrians  considered  that  it 
would  be  very  easy  to  capture  the  top  of  the 
precipitous  mountain  should  war  break  out  be- 
tween the  small  country  and  themselves,  but  it 
was  a  very  serious  offset  to  the  value  of  Cattaro. 
There  was  a  large  choice  of  suitable  naval 
ports  along  the  coast  besides  Cattaro.  The  only 
consideration  that  made  a  selection  difficult  was 
the  question  of  railway  communications  with  the 
interior. 

Sebenico  was  also  built  out  as  a  naval  base, 
but,  like  Cattaro,  there  was  no  railway  to  connect 
it  with  the  interior,  as  the  narrow  gauge  Bosnian 
railways  were  of  little  practical  use  for  military 
purposes.  They  were  either  light  mountain 
railways  or  narrow  gauge.  This  meant 
that  all  transports  must  be  unloaded  at  the 
Hungarian  frontier.  Neither  Cattaro  nor 
Sebenico  could  thus  be  utilised  as  first-class 
naval  bases  until  the  Bosno-Herzegowinan  rail- 
way system  had  been  changed.  Plans  for  this 
project  were  made  and  the  money  was  voted,  but 
the  work  had  not  been  begun  at  the  outbreak 


A  MILITARY  AND  NAVAL  POWER     175 

of  the  Great  War.  The  naval  authorities  estab- 
lished excellent  wireless  stations  and  repairing 
shops  at  these  ports.  The  Government  was  dis- 
inclined to  spend  money  on  these  ports,  because 
the  population  was  either  Italian  or  Serb,  and 
not  easy  to  cow  into  subjection,  like  inland 
peoples.  A  seafaring  people  were  always  able 
to  make  good  their  escape  should  danger 
threaten.  If  the  sea  coast  were  watched  too 
carefully  for  them  to  get  away  by  boat,  there 
was  a  wild  mountainous  district  behind,  where 
a  man  could  hide  among  the  rocky  crags  undis- 
turbed until  the  hue  and  cry  after  him  had  died 
down.  Just  as  the  Bohemians  near  the  German 
frontier  were  always  inclined  to  be  restive,  and 
the  Government  more  or  less  obliged  to  take  a 
lenient  view  of  their  offences,  so  the  Dalmatians 
were  seldom  subjected  to  persecution.  Austria- 
Hungary  never  let  off  her  wrath  on  those  able 
to  defend  themselves. 

Political  considerations  hampered  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Government  in  her  choice  of  ports 
and  in  her  shipbuilding.  Austria  wished  to  get 
all  the  shipbuilding  orders,  and  was  willing  to 
make  concessions  to  Hungary  in  agricultural 
affairs  in  order  to  secure  them.  Hungary,  how- 
ever, was  not  disposed  to  accept  these. 

Austria-Hungary  only  settled  upon  a  definite 


176         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

naval  policy  after  the  Annexation  crisis.  It  was 
decided  then  that  the  new  boats  should  be  built 
in  Trieste,  and  then  tugged  round  to  Pola  for 
fitting.  The  Hungarians  complained  bitterly, 
and  insisted  upon  some  orders  being  placed  at 
Fiume  also.  Slips  for  Dreadnoughts  were 
prepared  in  Hungarian  dockyards.  The  first 
Dreadnoughts,  however,  were  built  at  the 
Stablimento  Tecnico,  in  Trieste.  This  caused 
a  storm  of  indignation  all  along  the  Adriatic. 
Austria  had  fostered  Trieste  at  the  expense  of 
all  other  ports — both  Hungarian  and  Italian — 
on  the  sea  coast.  Two  railways  carried  goods 
from  Trieste  to  Vienna.  Preference  tariffs  were 
given  to  goods  shipped  over  the  Austrian  ports. 
Italian  firms  found  it  cheaper  to  get  their  goods 
via  Trieste  than  via  Venice.  Every  form  of  ruse 
and  trickery  for  magnifying  the  importance  of 
Trieste  and  decreasing  that  of  Venice  w^as  used. 
In  some  cases,  Austrian  firms  received  large 
State  subventions  to  enable  them  to  undersell 
Italian  firms.  Thus  Trieste  absorbed  much  of 
the  trade  that  formerly  went  via  Genoa  to 
Switzerland  and  Germany.  In  bolstering  up 
Trieste  and  its  trade  the  Government  was  not 
actuated  by  commercial  considerations  only. 
The  mercantile  fleet  proved  an  excellent  train- 
ing-school for  sailors;  the  population  was  com- 


A  MILITARY  AND  NAVAL  POWER     177 

posed  mostly  of  Italians  and  Slavs,  seafaring 
people  who  had  been  accustomed  to  earn  their 
living  on  the  water  for  generations  and  genera- 
tions. Austria-Hungary,  when  contemplating 
her  failures  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  could 
always  point  to  Trieste  as  a  complete  success. 
Unfortunately,  Kaiser  Wilhelm  also  regarded 
the  seaport  as  an  entire  success.  The  splendid 
docks,  stretching  miles  inland,  where  light  boats 
could  be  built,  the  yards  at  Montfalcone,  all 
stirred  a  feeling  of  covetousness  in  the  monarch, 
who  was  never  satisfied.  He  actually  com- 
menced negotiations  to  get  possession  of 
Trieste.  He  needed  a  port  in  the  Mediterranean 
or  in  the  Adriatic  for  the  re-fitting,  re-fuelling, 
and  provisioning  of  German  ships  in  times  of 
peace.  Austria-Hungary  refused  on  one  occa- 
sion to  cede  her  best  port  to  Kaiser  Wilhelm, 
but  an  agreement  that  Germany  could  use  it  as 
a  coaling-station  was  entered  into. 

The  first  Dreadnoughts  built  for  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Navy  just  after  the  Annexation 
crisis  were  laid  down  secretly.  Although  per- 
mission to  build  Dreadnoughts  had  been  given 
at  the  Delegations,  many  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment opposed  the  granting  of  the  money,  on  the 
ground  that  Austria-Hungary  could  not  afford 
to  embark  on  a  policy  that  might  embroil  her 

N 


178         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

with  other  nations.  Her  army  was  sufficiently 
large  to  protect  her  and  assure  her  that  respect 
among  the  Great  Powers  that  she  had  a  right 
to  demand.  The  Government,  to  save  argument, 
thus  laid  down  the  Dreadnoughts  without  an- 
nouncing the  fact.  When  the  news  that  the  first 
ship  was  partially  ready  and  the  second  had 
already  been  laid  down  was  made  public,  the 
other  nations  of  Europe  naturally  felt  that 
Austria-Hungary  had  stolen  a  march  upon 
them.  She  specialised  in  building  submarines 
and  torpedoes  at  this  time.  The  necessary 
expense  was  provided  for  by  a  special  species 
of  book-keeping.  Money  voted  for  education 
and  similar  purposes  was  devoted  to  the  con- 
struction of  submarines,  and  the  public  and 
Europe  were  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  true  uses 
to  which  it  was  put. 

Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand,  the  late  heir  to 
the  throne  of  Austria-Hungary,  was  especially 
interested  in  shipbuilding.  He  had  a  valid  excuse 
for  remaining  far  from  the  capital.  The  fine 
dust  from  the  limestone  with  which  Vienna  is 
built  injured  his  lungs,  which  were  already  deli- 
cate. He  therefore  stayed  for  the  greater  part 
of  the  year  at  Miramare,  a  beautiful  castle  close 
to  Trieste,  or  at  Brioni,  farther  along  the  coast. 
The  Duchess  and  the  children  enjoyed  the  stay 


A  MILITARY  AND  NAVAL  POWER     179 

near  the  sea.  He  ran  to  and  fro  in  a  swift  yacht, 
visited  Pola  and  Fiume,  and  assisted  at  the 
experiments  which  were  being  carried  on  there. 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  frequently  came  to  visit  Corfu, 
and  stayed  at  Miramare  en  route.  The  two  men 
who  were  plotting  for  world-empire  spent  many 
hours  together.  The  Kaiser  was  frequently 
accompanied  by  experts,  who  travelled  incog- 
nito at  the  command  of  the  Emperor. 

Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand,  brought  up,  like 
all  the  Austro-Hungarian  Imperial  family,  in  an 
atmosphere  of  unreality,  suspected  nothing  of 
the  Kaiser's  ulterior  motives  in  coming  to 
Trieste.  He  even  followed  his  suggestions  for 
the  gradual  removal  of  all  Italians  employed  in 
Government  service. 


N    2 


CHAPTER  XXI 

ARCHDUKE    CARL    FRANCIS    JOSEPH 

Archduke  Carl  Francis  Joseph  resembles 
the  present  Emperor  of  Austria  and  King  of 
Hungary  very  closely,  though  the  resemblance 
is  apparent  rather  in  a  certain  peculiar  charm 
of  manner  than  in  a  similarity  of  features. 
Their  colouring  is  identical,  and  when  on  the 
outbreak  of  war  the  aged  Emperor  made  a 
triumphal  entry  into  Vienna  amid  enthusiastic 
crowds  such  as  the  capital  had  never  seen,  with 
the  heir  to  the  throne  by  his  side  in  an  open 
carriage,  everyone  remarked  on  a  resemblance 
that  had  escaped  them  before.  "  He  might  be 
the  Emperor's  grandson,"  was  heard  on  every 
side,  as  the  two  men  who  held  the  destinies  of 
the  land  in  their  hands  went  by.  They  sat 
stiffly  upright,  for  both  have  the  carriage  that 
marks  a  thorough  military  training;  both 
acknowledged  the  frenzied  acclamations  of  the 


ARCHDUKE  CARL  FRANCIS  JOSEPH     181 

crowd  with  a  truly  royal  reserve,  in  contrast 
with  the  eagerness  of  F'erdinand  of  Bulgaria 
or  Wilhelm  of  Prussia,  who  could  not  conceal 
their  extreme  delight  at  the  shouts  of  the  popu- 
lace. Both  Emperor  and  Archduke  have 
always  been  popular. 

The  Archduke  had  received  the  careful  train- 
ing that  is  given  to  one  who  is  expected  to  fill 
a  high  place  in  life.  He  learned  English  at 
the  same  time  as  he  learned  German  from  an 
English  governess,  who  succeeded  in  implant- 
ing a  love  for  her  native  land  in  the  heart  of 
the  young  Archduke.  The  Austrians  con- 
sidered that  he  was  too  British  in  his  tastes  in 
many  ways,  and  much  too  inclined  to  go  in  for 
games  of  every  kind  instead  of  attending  to  the 
more  serious  studies  that  took  up  so  large  a 
part  of  his  time  already.  While  the  young 
Archduke  showed  great  enthusiasm  for  tennis, 
for  dancing  and  skating,  he  cared  but  little  for 
abstruse  studies.  None  of  the  Habsburgs  ever 
gave  evidence  of  great  mental  powers,  and 
the  Archduke  was  true  to  the  family  traditions 
in  this  respect.  Educated  in  Vienna,  where 
dancing  and  music  are  regarded  as  the  chief 
end  of  life,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  enjoy 
both.  It  is  also  a  debatable  point  whether 
accomplishments   of   this   kind   are   not   more 


182         SEVEN    YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

desirable  for  the  young  man  who  wishes  to  get 
into  touch  with  his  subjects  and  with  foreign 
diplomatists  than  a  taste  for  discussion.  Un- 
fortunately, the  Archduke  was  encouraged  to 
pursue  a  very  frivolous  life.  The  wicked  uncle 
of  the  fairy  tale  is  frequently  seen  in  real  life. 
In  this  case  he  enjoyed  unusual  powers.  When 
Archduke  Otto  died  he  left  his  brother,  Arch- 
duke Francis  Ferdinand,  guardian  to  his  two 
boys.  The  heir  to  the  throne  and  his  ambitious 
morganatic  wife  thus  had  the  care  of  educating 
the  boy  who  was  to  succeed  to  the  throne  instead 
of  their  own  boys.  It  is  doubtful  whether  they 
could  have  felt  kindly  towards  him  in  any  case. 
Being  what  they  were,  both  ambitious  and  un- 
scrupulous, they  did  everything  they  could  to 
ruin  the  boy.  He  was  surrounded  by  persons 
who  turned  his  thoughts  towards  subjects  unfit 
for  him,  and  who  led  him  astray  at  an  age  when 
he  should  have  been  attending  to  his  school- 
books.  The  sudden  change  from  a  life  of  con- 
vent-like severity  to  one  of  the  greatest  dissipa- 
tion and  licence  was  sufficient  to  turn  the  head 
of  any  young  man,  and  much  more  so  that  of 
the  heir-presumptive  to  a  brilliant  throne. 
When  he  appeared  in  a  ballroom  the  women 
flattered  him,  not  for  position  perhaps  so  much 
as  for  his  youthful  grace  and  manners.     The 


ARCHDUKE  CARL  FRANCIS  JOSEPH     183 

Archduke  and  his  wife  threw  in  the  way  of  the 
Archduke  people  of  vicious  life,  who  did  their 
best  to  ruin  him  in  every  way.  The  frivolity 
of  his  disposition,  mingled  with  a  certain  light- 
heartedness  that  led  him  to  take  nothing 
seriously,  saved  him  from  these  snares.  The 
Archduke  had  him  removed  from  the  Vienna 
Court,  where  he  was  far  too  popular,  on  the 
pretext  that  he  was  "going  the  pace"  too  fast. 
The  Emperor  made  inquiries,  and  discovered 
that  the  Archduke  was  leading  a  comparatively 
simple  life  compared  with  that  of  many  of  his 
elders.  He  was  banished  to  his  regiment  gar- 
risoned on  the  Elbe;  however,  he  got  frequent 
leave  to  come  to  Vienna  incognito,  when  he 
could  not  interfere  with  his  uncle,  who  was  so 
unpopular  that  he  never  ventured  to  walk  about 
the  streets  like  the  rest  of  the  Imperial  family. 
It  is  probable  that,  instead  of  lessening  his 
popularity,  these  long  periods  of  enforced 
absence  endeared  the  young  Archduke  to  the 
hearts  of  his  future  subjects.  He,  too,  knew 
how  to  speak  a  number  of  languages  and  dia- 
lects. Italian  he  spoke  like  his  native  tongue, 
and  he  knew  French,  the  diplomatic  language 
of  the  Balkans,  thoroughly.  He  knew  Czech 
really  well,  and  also  spoke  Hungarian,  having 
learnt  both  languages  as  a  child.     The  heir  to 


184         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

the  throne  knew  neither,  not  having  learnt  them 
when  young,  as  there  were  several  lives  between 
him  and  the  throne.  All  these  facts  made  him 
less  inclined  to  love  his  nephew,  who  seemed 
to  possess  all  the  graces  that  he  lacked.  All 
the  machinations  against  him,  although  actuated 
by  the  deepest  hate,  had  no  result  because  of 
his  simplicity  of  character.  When  he  returned 
to  Vienna  after  a  long,  enforced  absence,  he 
went  at  once  to  the  Belvedere  and  thanked  his 
uncle  and  aunt  for  the  kind  care  that  held  him 
far  from  the  capital.  He  did  not  say  that  he 
had  all  the  amusement  that  he  needed.  He 
had  been  present  at  every  premiere  of  import- 
ance, assisted  at  many  balls  that  did  not  figure 
in  the  columns  of  the  papers  devoted  to  Court 
news,  and  generally  had  an  amusing  time  with- 
out being  trammelled  by  the  strict  etiquette  that 
would  have  regulated  his  movements  had  he 
been  in  the  capital  on  an  official  visit.  Always 
smiling  and  good-humoured,  he  never  even 
noticed  the  machinations  that  were  directed 
against  him.  He  was  high  in  favour  with  the 
Emperor,  who  often  expressed  the  wish  that  the 
younger  man  were  coming  to  the  throne  instead 
of  the  next  heir,  for  Archduke  Carl  had  never 
caused  him  a  moment's  uneasiness.  This  was 
saying  much  at  a  Court  where  most  of  the  youth- 


N 


O. 


"T-'-iia 


ARCHDUKE  CARL  FRANCIS  JOSEPH     185 

ful  members  had  committed  some  breach  of 
etiquette  at  least,  many  of  them  having  caused 
the  Emperor  much  trouble  by  their  love  affairs. 
Archduke  Carl,  instead  of  a  variety  of  affaires, 
had  offered  all  the  warmth  of  his  youthful  devo- 
tion on  the  shrine  of  one  of  the  most  amusing 
and  accomplished  Vienna  actresses.  He  carried 
flowers  and  flung  them  on  the  stage  at  her  feet 
very  often,  and  showed  his  preference  in  many 
ways.  As  the  lady  was  already  a  woman  far  on 
in  years,  she  accepted  his  boyish  devotion  with- 
out allowing  him  to  do  anything  compromising 
for  his  future.  She  acted  the  role  of  the  good 
fairy  who  saved  the  prince  from  all  the  snares 
spread  for  his  undoing.  When  the  Archduke 
fell  in  love  with  an  old  playmate  at  a  Court 
ball,  he  made  his  actress  friend  his  first  con- 
fidante. The  Archduke,  like  most  of  his  rela- 
tions, married  solely  for  love,  and  was  able  to 
accomplish  his  desire,  although  there  was  much 
opposition  in  some  quarters.  Princess  Zita,  of 
Parma,  the  daughter  of  an  old  and  decaying 
race,  was  a  child  of  the  Vienna  Court.  She  had 
been  convent-bred,  and,  like  her  husband,  she 
was  educated  partly  on  English  lines.  She  had 
spent  some  years  at  the  convent  at  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  where  several  of  her  near  relatives 
occupy  important  positions  among  the  Sisters. 


186         SEVEN    YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

She  lives  part  of  the  year  in  Italy,  and  is 
essentially  Italian  in  type  and  character.  Her 
great  charm  of  manner  fitted  her  to  become  an 
Empress ;  the  only  objection  that  could  be  made 
to  the  match  was  that  she  came  of  a  family  of 
worn-out  stock  already  related  to  the  Habs- 
burgs,  and  not  likely  to  improve  that  de- 
generate line.  This  objection  would  have  been 
considered  fatal  at  some  Courts.  At  Vienna 
the  fact  that  Princess  Zita  was  distinguished 
for  her  piety  and  was  completely  in  the  hands 
of  the  Church  over-rode  all  other  considera- 
tions, and  the  match  was  allowed  to  proceed. 
It  has  turned  out  most  happily.  The  Viennese 
were  pleased  to  have  a  Princess  that  they  knew. 
They  made  no  secret  of  the  fact  that  it  was  a 
grave  mistake  to  import  princesses.  They  said 
that  such  young  women  did  not  know  enough 
to  hold  their  own  against  the  intrigues  of  the 
family,  who  were  invariably  jealous  of  the 
"  first  lady  at  the  Court."  The  women  did  their 
best  to  poison  the  young  lives  of  imported 
princesses  with  tales  of  scandal  and  by  other 
less  reputable  means.  Princess  Zita  had  a 
crowd  of  powerful  relations  to  stand  by  her 
and  protect  her  from  the  harm  that  befell  the 
late  Empress  Elizabeth.  She  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  atmosphere  of  the  Court, 


ARCHDUKE  CARL  FRANCIS  JOSEPH     187 

and,  like  a  child  at  home,  knew  how  to  avoid 
all  the  pitfalls  spread  for  her  undoing. 
Princess  Zita  accompanied  her  husband  every- 
where when  it  was  possible.  Before  the  war  she 
travelled  over  the  whole  of  the  Galician  fron- 
tier in  his  company.  With  deep  understanding 
of  the  character  of  the  peasants,  she  purchased 
their  livestock  at  the  exorbitant  prices  they 
demanded  for  her  poultry  farm.  Unlike 
Duchess  Hohenberg,  who  complained  that  she 
was  overcharged  when  the  peasants  asked  too 
much,  she  threw  away  sums  of  money,  small 
intrinsically,  but  large  in  the  eyes  of  the  poor 
inhabitants  of  the  land.  The  progress  made 
by  the  newly-married  pair  was  a  great  success. 
The  birth  of  a  son,  while  putting  a  seal  upon 
the  popularity  of  both,  undid  the  hopes  and 
plans  nourished  at  the  Belvedere.  Duchess 
Hohenberg  despaired  of  seeing  either  of  her 
fine  boys  upon  the  throne.  The  remainder  of 
the  Court  held  a  brief  for  Archduke  Carl  and 
Princess  Zita,  and  protected  them  against 
Duchess  Hohenberg.  Little  Zita  had  grown 
up  among  them,  and  no  one  grudged  her  the 
high  place  she  .occupied.  She  did  not  even 
displace  the  "first  lady  of  the  Court."  Arch- 
duchess Annunziata,  the  niece  of  the  Emperor, 
immediately  resigned  her  place  to  the  younger 


188         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

woman  who  was  to  be  the  future  Empress,  but 
the  Httle  Princess  was  too  much  taken  up  by 
her  duties  as  mother  to  learn  the  whole  of  the 
strict  etiquette  that  the  "first  lady"  is  called 
upon  to  observe.  Her  aunt  arranged,  there- 
fore, to  preside  at  the  more  formal  functions, 
where  the  Princess,  who  was  nothing  but  a 
child,  might  make  some  dreadful  mistake,  and 
to  instruct  her  gradually.  This  simplified 
matters  greatly  for  the  Princess,  who  thus  made 
no  enemies.  Archduchess  Annunziata  had  pre- 
sided at  the  Court  ever  since  the  tragic  death 
of  Empress  Elizabeth.  She  was  tired  of  the 
burden,  and  wished  to  retire  to  her  convent 
at  Prague  for  the  remainder  of  her  life.  She 
took  no  pleasure  in  standing  erect  and  gracious 
on  a  platform  at  the  top  of  the  ballroom  and 
saying  the  appropriate  thing  to  each  of  the 
dignitaries  presented  to  her  notice.  The  role 
that  would  have  rejoiced  Duchess  Hohenberg 
beyond  everything  annoyed  her. 

Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  and  Duchess 
Hohenberg,  sitting  sullen  and  gloomy  at 
Konopischt,  still  tried  to  keep  the  heir-pre- 
sumptive far  from  the  capital.  He  and  Princess 
Zita  were  only  allowed  to  show  themselves 
publicly  in  Vienna  on  rare  occasions.  This  led 
to    their    being    cheered    frantically    whenever 


ARCHDUKE  CARL  FRANCIS  JOSEPH     189 

they  did  show  themselves.  Exaggerated  stories 
of  the  jealousy  shown  by  the  Archduke  went 
all  round  the  city.  The  Emperor  frequently 
called  the  younger  man  to  his  side,  and  was 
struck  by  his  modesty  and  mild  demeanour. 
Archduke  Carl  was  naturally  most  unassuming. 
His  personal  attendants  were  much  attached  to 
him  because  of  his  great  generosity,  but  always 
said  that  he  was  impulsive  to  a  degree  that 
made  him  difficult  to  arrange  for;  he  made 
plans  absolutely  upon  the  spur  of  the  moment 
without  stopping  to  consider. 

Such  was  the  young  Archduke  as  he  was 
known  in  Vienna  when  the  murder  of  Sarajevo 
altered  the  entire  course  of  his  life.  The 
weight  of  responsibility  suddenly  thrown  upon 
his  shoulders  made  him  show  character — 
strength  of  character  that  must  have  been  there 
all  the  time,  carefully  concealed  beneath  the 
pleasant  manners  of  a  young  courtier.  This 
was  seen  at  the  funeral  of  the  victims  of  Sara- 
jevo. He  insisted  upon  walking  behind  the 
funeral  coach  that  bore  his  uncle  and  aunt  to 
their  last  rest.  The  Master  of  the  Ceremonies 
at  the  Vienna  Court  had  arranged  that  no 
member  of  the  House  of  Habsburg  should  de- 
mean himself  by  paying  this  respect  to  the 
dead,  and  he  represented  this  to  the  Archduke 


190         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

on  the  steps  of  the  railway  station.  The  Arch- 
duke became  quite  red  in  the  face  with  excite- 
ment as  he  pointed  out  to  the  amazed  official 
that  he  w^as  now  heir  to  the  throne,  and  that  he 
would  decide  upon  what  was  the  correct  thing 
at  Court.  All  Vienna  saw  and  applauded.  He 
walked  alone  behind  the  coffins  as  first  mourner 
with  the  air  of  sadness  and  solemnity  which 
the  occasion  demanded.  At  the  same  time  he 
freed  himself  from  the  domination  of  the  much- 
dreaded  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  once  and 
for  all. 

The  Archduke  and  his  wife  were  naturally 
pro-Italian.  Even  before  his  marriage  the 
Archduke  had  always  shown  more  sympathy 
for  the  Italians  than  was  felt  by  other  Habs- 
burgs.  The  happiest  days  of  his  life  had  been 
spent  on  Italian  ground  at  Viareggio,  where  he 
was  able  to  live  on  the  water  far  away  from  the 
Court  and  its  exigencies.  He  was  inclined  to 
trust  the  Italians,  and,  unlike  his  uncle,  disliked 
the  Slavs.  He  was,  too,  decidedly  pro-British 
before  the  war.  When  he  was  selected  to  go 
to  England  to  represent  the  Emperor,  he  made 
his  preparations  with  the  greatest  alacrity, 
pleased  to  think  that  he  had  been  chosen  for 
the  mission. 

Kaiser  Wilhelm  regarded  the  heir-presump- 


ARCHDUKE  CARL  FRANCIS  JOSEPH    191 

tive  to  the  throne  as  a  young  man  of  no  import- 
ance in  his  schemes.  He  believed  that  a  youth 
who  was  so  thoroughly  under  the  influence  of 
his  mother  had  neither  the  character  nor  the 
intelligence  to  oppose  his  plans.  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm,  perhaps,  neglected  that  obstinacy  which 
is  a  leading  characteristic  of  the  Habsburgs, 
and  which  has  enabled  them  to  resist  many  an 
attack  upon  their  prerogative  in  the  past,  and 
may  have  an  important  and  unexpected  in- 
fluence on  the  future.  While  the  late  heir  to 
the  throne  of  Austria-Hungary  was  entirely  in 
the  hands  of  the  Jesuits,  neither  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  nor  his  present  heir  ever 
allowed  them  to  dictate  in  affairs  of  State. 
They  held  that  religion  and  statecraft  were 
different  matters  that  must  be  kept  scrupulously 
apart. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY  FACED  BY  REVOLUTION  OR  WAR 
THE  FINANCIAL  FACTOR 

Austria  and  Hungary  strike  the  casual 
visitor  as  very  like  any  other  European  country, 
and  so  long  as  he  remains  on  the  beaten  path 
he  finds  no  reason  to  revise  his  judgment. 
Vienna,  Budapesth,  Prague,  are  very  like  Milan 
or  Berlin.  There  is  plenty  of  ready  money,  and 
every  indication  of  a  somewhat  too  advanced 
civilisation.  In  fact,  decadence  is  suggested 
rather  than  under-cultivation.  The  ease  with 
which  the  city  people  have  adopted  every  new 
invention,  and  the  facility  with  which  they  adapt 
themselves  to  modern  appliances  and  conve- 
niences, quite  deceives  the  stranger.  He  natur- 
ally supposes  that  people  who  made  constant 
and  excellent  use  of  the  telephone  at  a  time 
when  it  was  just  being  introduced  into  the 
western  countries  of  Europe  are  necessarily  ad- 
vanced in  other  matters.  Everything  looks  very 
up  to  date.     The  fashionable  watering-places, 


FACED  BY  REVOLUTION  OR  WAR  193 

like  Karlsbad  and  Marienbad,are  the  essence  of 
modernity.  Everything  is  carefully  arranged 
for  the  comfort  of  the  traveller,  and  for  the 
man  who  can  afford  the  utmost  refinement  of 
comfort  it  is  perfection.  If  he  takes  a  long 
walk  out  from  his  splendidly  appointed  hotel, 
and  spends  a  day  or  two  up  country  in  Bohemia, 
he  will  soon  discover  a  different  state  of  things. 
The  first  shock  is  the  knowledge  that  the 
forest  is  not  safe  for  anyone  who  rashly  wanders 
away  from  carefully  tended  paths  and  marked 
trees  that  show  the  direction.  These  immense 
woods  are  not  merely  unsafe,  but  any  stranger 
to  the  district  who  strays  among  the  denser  parts 
will  probably  not  return,  for  the  peasants  are 
inclined  to  be  savage.  If  a  German  falls  into 
the  hands  of  Czechs  in  a  small  Bohemian  town 
he  usually  gets  badly  mauled  before  the  police, 
who  are  really  in  sympathy  with  the  towns- 
people and  do  not  hurry  unduly,  can  interfere. 
This  kind  of  outrage,  which  may  be  found 
chronicled  without  any  excuse  or  explanation  in 
the  small  local  papers,  goes  on  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  ultra-civilised  Marienbad,  where 
urbane  and  polished  politicians  conferred  with 
King  Edward,  and  spoke  of  their  land  as  one 
of  the  civilised  countries  of  Europe.  No  one 
ever  thought  of  pushing  inquiries  as  to  what  the 

o 


194         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

native  peasant  was  like.  Horrible  crimes  are 
frequently  reported  from  Bohemia,  but  they 
attract  little  attention.  The  foreigners  do  not 
read  the  kind  of  paper  that  delights  in  horrible 
detail,  while  the  Viennese  know  too  well  how 
very  backward  much  of  the  country  population 
is,  and  naturally  wish  to  keep  the  knowledge 
from  the  world.  The  various  races  that  live 
within  the  confines  of  Austria  proper  are  of  mild 
and  somewhat  timid  disposition,  but  the  Hun- 
garians are  fierce  and  cruel. 

Many  peasants,  who  own  considerable  wealth 
in  the  shape  of  land,  that  has  come  down  to 
them  from  their  fathers,  have  never  seen  a  gold 
coin,  nor  even  possessed  a  15s.  banknote  in  their 
lives.  Very  little  gold  circulates  in  Austria  or 
Hungary  at  any  time,  the  people  preferring 
notes.  Apart  from  this,  however,  many 
peasants  never  handle  money.  Their  whole 
business  is  carried  on  by  barter.  A  peculiar 
method  of  trading  is  known  as  "  pauschal."  It 
is  extremely  simple  in  its  operation.  A  dairy- 
farmer  undertakes  to  supply  one  of  his  neigh- 
bours with  butter,  milk  and  eggs  all  the  year 
round.  The  neighbour  supplies  him  with  pork, 
vegetables,  or  some  other  commodity  that  he 
has  at  his  disposal.  The  same  method  of  barter 
is  applied  to  the  shoemaker  and  to  the  weaver  of 


FACED  BY  REVOLUTION  OR  WAR     195 

linen.  If  one  party  suffers  a  slight  disadvantage 
through  the  arrangement  it  is  considered  that  it 
will  be  made  up  another  season,  when  his  re- 
quirements will  be  larger.  This  system  obviates 
any  keeping  of  accounts,  and  is  of  great  conve- 
nience, as  it  enables  the  parties  concerned  to 
forecast  their  expenses  for  the  coming  year  with 
certainty.  In  some  districts,  where  there  is  less 
mutual  dependence,  and  therefore  less  mutual 
trust  and  confidence,  the  accounts  are  chalked 
up  behind  the  door,  and  one  supply  of  goods 
rendered  against  another.  But  no  money  passes 
from  hand  to  hand.  The  peasant  has  a  lively 
distrust  of  banks,  born  of  experience;  and  he 
considers  that  the  natural  end  of  a  bank  is 
failure.  He  therefore  invests  his  money  in 
stock,  in  enriching  the  land,  if  he  is  the  abso- 
lute proprietor,  and  always  locks  up  a  certain 
sum  for  emergencies,  turning  it  into  jewellery, 
which  is  worn  by  the  women.  In  times  of  terror 
the  peasant  girl  conceals  her  necklace — usually 
made  of  coins  which  are  out  of  circulation — and 
always  has  the  wherewithal  to  procure  herself 
temporary  shelter.  The  peasant  women,  too, 
wear  belts  of  solid  silver,  which  can  be  con- 
verted into  cash  at  a  moment's  notice,  should 
necessity  arise.  The  peasant  never  interferes 
with  his  wife's  jewellery,  whatever  may  be  his 

O    2 


196         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

need;  it  is  her  dowry  for  herself  and  her 
children  in  times  of  dire  distress. 

These  circumstances  and  habits  account  for 
the  curious  phenomenon  of  a  population  rich  in 
property,  but  having  no  ready  money.  This 
explains,  too,  the  remarkable  fact  that  only 
about  4  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  Austria 
pay  income-tax.  The  tax  is  imposed  upon 
everyone  earning  over  £50  per  annum.  Moving 
about  among  the  peasant  proprietors,  among  the 
large  population  engaged  in  cottage  industries, 
it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  these  people  are 
living  on  incomes  below  ;^5o  per  annum.  It  is 
true  that  they  have  no  money,  or  only  rare  coins, 
but  they  are  living  at  a  high  standard  of  com- 
fort, and  many  who  earn  ;^20  per  annum  in 
actual  coins,  consume  products  got  upon  the 
exchange  and  barter  system  worth  several  hun- 
dreds of  pounds. 

The  small  fraction  of  the  population  which  is 
taxed  for  income  for  carrying  on  a  trade  or  pro- 
fession, and  in  a  dozen  other  vexatious  ways, 
is  heavily  hampered.  A  man  must  even  pay 
a  heavy  tax  for  the  upkeep  of  his  religion  if 
he  is  a  non-Catholic.  Indeed,  it  is  difficult  to 
see  how  any  business  can  be  made  to  pay  with 
the  heavy  taxation  that  hampers  trade  on  every 
hand,  and  practically  prevents  Austrian  traders 


FACED  BY  REVOLUTION  OR  WAR     197 

from  being  able  to  compete  with  German  firms, 
which  instead  of  being  hampered  are  assisted 
by  their  Government. 

In  the  days  of  quiet  and  calm  before  Austria- 
Hungary  was  led  to  think  of  world-empire  by 
her  ambitious  ally,  the  Minister  of  Finance 
actually  turned  out  budgets  without  a  deficit; 
some  years  there  was  even  a  surplus.  It  was,  of 
course,  impossible  to  ascertain  how  far  these 
figures  corresponded  with  actual  facts,  for 
"  double  book-keeping "  was  not  peculiar  to 
private  persons  in  Austria-Hungary.  It  was  a 
matter  of  common  knowledge  that  Government 
statistics  were  manipulated  to  suit  the  require- 
ments of  the  political  situation. 

When  the  country  embarked  upon  her  new 
military  and  naval  policy,  large  sums  of  money 
were  needed.  There  were  meetings  between 
leading  financiers  to  consider  how  best  it  could 
be  collected  from  a  country  that  possessed  no 
liquid  wealth.  Taxes  were  clapped  on  imports. 
This  brought  but  little  revenue,  as  the  country 
people  fed  on  the  products  of  their  own  grow- 
ing. The  various  State  monopolies,  such  as 
tobacco,  brought  in  large  revenues.  The 
attempt  to  get  money  from  the  agricultural 
population,  however,  failed.  This  meant  that 
the  capitals  and  large  manufacturing  districts 


198         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

must  find  the  necessary  funds  for  reckless  ex- 
penditure on  armaments.  Great  hardships 
resulted.  The  working-classes  were  forced  to 
pay  heavy  taxes  upon  all  goods  entering  the 
city.  They  already  bore  heavy  import  duties, 
and  the  .cost  of  many  articles  of  necessity  was 
almost  prohibitive.  Sugar,  which  was  made 
from  beetroot  in  the  country,  and  sold  to 
England  at  less  than  cost  price,  in  order  to  gain 
a  foreign  market,  cost  5d.  a  pound  in  Austria- 
Hungary.  The  taxation  became  heavier  every 
year,  and  the  authorities  failed  to  see  that  the 
burden  was  falling  exclusively  upon  the 
middle-classes  and  the  working-classes  dwelling 
in  the  large  cities.  Austria-Hungary  tried  to 
float  loans  in  France.  The  political  situation 
was  so  strained  that,  although  France  was 
willing  to  lend  money  to  Russia,  she  refused, 
point-blank,  to  lend  to  Austria  or  to  Hungary  on 
any  terms.  The  loans  had  to  be  taken  up  in 
Germany.  Germany  needed  money  herself; 
she  had  been  spending  all  her  available  capital 
upon  raw  material  for  the  forging  of  cannon.  At 
every  meeting  of  the  Austrian  Parliament  mem- 
bers protested  against  the  laying  down  of 
Dreadnoughts  when  the  financial  situation  of 
the  country  was  so  precarious.  There  were  con- 
stant riots  in  the  towns,  the  Austro-Hungarian 


FACED  BY  REVOLUTION  OR  WAR     199 

system  -of  reckless  suppression  of  disorders 
applied  to  quell  the  disorders  only  increased  the 
mass  of  discontent  and  disaffection.  There  came 
a  time  when  politicians  began  to  see  that  only 
a  successful  war  could  save  the  position.  The 
Hungarians  were  threatening  to  break  loose 
from  Austria.  They  considered  that  the  finances 
were  mismanaged.  Too  much  of  the  money 
voted  for  the  Dual  Monarchy,  and  administered 
by  the  Common  Minister  of  Finance,  was 
devoted  to  Austrian  needs,  to  the  disadvantage 
and  detriment  of  her  less  powerful  neighbour, 
Hungary.  Such  suspicions  were  very  well 
founded,  especially  as  regards  the  sums  secretly 
devoted  to  war  material.  If  education  were 
defective  in  Austria,  it  was  still  more  neglected 
in  Hungary. 

Vienna  had  become  the  real  capital,  Buda- 
pesth  being  neglected  through  the  ill-health  and 
advancing  age  of  the  Emperor,  It  was  clear 
that  the  Emperor  could  not  travel  to  Budapesth 
without  risk  to  his  health,  since  the  climate  did 
not  suit  him. 

Hungary  said  that  she  would  prefer  to 
administer  her  own  finances.  She  could  very 
well  provide  for  her  own  military  and  naval 
requirements.  She  wished  to  take  a  part  of  the 
executive    power  into   her   own   hands.      This 


200         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

would  have  weakened  Austria  considerably. 
Instead  of  ranking  as  a  first-class  Power  she 
would  fall  to  the  rank  of  a  secondary  one. 
Bohemia,  too,  wished  for  separation.  She  felt 
that  her  prosperous  factories,  her  ironworks, 
were  contributing  a  very  large  share  of  wealth  to 
the  country,  and  that  while  the  Bohemians  were 
heavily  taxed,  they  got  no  compensation  for  the 
extra  money  that  they  poured  into  the  State 
chest. 

The  leading  statesmen  realised  towards  the 
year  19 12  that  they  were  faced  by  the  choice  of 
war  or  revolution  in  Austria-Hungary.  The 
huge  sums  needed  to  pay  off  the  debts  already 
incurred  by  the  costs  connected  with  two  mobili- 
sations, and  the  ever-increasing  military  and 
naval  needs  were  landing  the  country  in  an 
impasse  from  which  there  were  only  two  roads 
of  escape.  If  the  House  of  Habsburg  wished 
to  maintain  its  proud  position  some  action  must 
be  taken.  The  politicians  round  the  throne 
thought  that  a  successful  war  with  Italy  would 
be  the  most  desirable  event.  They  dared  not 
moot  this  question  in  the  presence  of  the  aged 
Emperor.  He  was  firm  for  peace.  This  convic- 
tion, that  was  deeply  rooted  in  his  mind,  was 
strengthened  by  his  growing  parsimoniousness. 
Very  generous  as  a  young  man,  he  had  grown 


FACED  BY  REVOLUTION  OR  WAR     201 

almost  miserly  as  old  age  crept  upon  him. 
When  he  was  ill  he  regretted  that  there  should 
be  speculation  upon  the  Stock  Exchange,  and 
that  the  "  poor  people  should  lose  their  money," 
to  use  his  own  words.  This  economy,  which 
he  wished  to  see  exercised,  not  only  in  his  own 
private  affairs,  but  throughout  the  State,  would 
alone  have  made  him  abhor  the  thought  of  war, 
which  he  knew  meant  expenditure.  The  military 
party  hoped  that  he  might  either  die,  or  be 
brought  to  see  that  his  remaining  at  the  head  of 
affairs  any  longer  was  a  mistake  from  every 
point  of  view.  They  realised  that  something 
must  be  done.  If  the  Emperor  would  only 
abdicate,  they  could  act. 

Prices  of  ordinary  necessities  rose  30  per 
cent,  during  the  three  years  preceding  the  war. 
The  small  clerk,  the  officer,  and  everyone  with  a 
limited  income  and  a  certain  position  to  keep 
up,  was  reduced  to  going  without  many  articles 
of  prime  necessity,  or  to  getting  into  debt.  Many 
chose  this  last  alternative;  especially  was  this 
the  case  with  the  officers,  who  were  thus  the  more 
anxious  for  war,  as  they  had  nothing  to  lose  and 
much  to  gain  by  being  on  active  service. 

If  the  middle  classes  in  Austria-Hungary  had 
possessed  large  sums  invested  in  stocks  and 
shares,  like  the  French  or  the  Swiss,  the  large 


202         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

class  representing  this  interest  would  have 
objected  to  war.  This  was  not  the  case,  as  all 
speculation  and  almost  all  liquid  capital  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Jews.  They  were  firm  for 
peace.  They  completely  failed  to  see  where 
the  policy  of  the  country  was  leading.  Their 
lack  of  influence,  and  the  barrier  that  kept 
them  from  being  able  to  exchange  views  and 
opinions  freely  and  as  man  to  man  with  the  aris- 
tocrats, prevented  them  from  seeing  what  was 
about  to  happen.  They  believed  that  the 
country  might  go  on  in  its  peaceful  way,  even 
after  the  death  of  the  Emperor,  which  was  the 
date  commonly  fixed  in  the  country  for  the  dis- 
ruption of  the  Empire.  Perhaps  the  Jews  and 
the  financial  section  would  have  been  right  in 
their  estimate  had  it  not  been  for  the  ambitions 
of  the  German  Kaiser.  They  did  not  appre- 
ciate the  mentality  of  the  Austrian  Imperial 
family,  in  whom  the  power  of  decision  was 
really  vested,  and  could  not  understand  that  it 
would  prefer  to  allow  itself  to  become  the  cats- 
paw  of  Germany,  rather  than  see  its  power 
diminished  by  the  loss  of  part  of  its  lands. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE   AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN    CONSTITUTION 

The  Austro-Hungarlan  Constitution  exists 
on  paper,  but  that  is  all.  The  Austrian  Parlia- 
ment met  at  Vienna,  the  Hungarian  Parliament 
still  meets  at  Budapesth,  but  the  National  As- 
semblies never  exercised  any  actual  power. 
This  was  partly  due  to  the  clever  management 
of  those  in  authority,  but  chiefly  to  the  policy 
of  the  Emperor,  an  old  autocrat,  who  con- 
sidered that  all  means  were  justifiable  if  all 
real  power  could  be  kept  in  his  hands.  Much 
of  the  blame,  however,  was  due  to  the  people 
themselves,  who  held  aloof  from  politics.  Some 
of  the  most  highly  educated  men  in  the  country 
said  that  the  Constitution  was  a  farce,  and  that 
they  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it. 
Others  refused  to  vote  to  mark  their  disap- 
probation. The  Government  thereupon  made 
voting  obligatory.  Anyone  who  refused  to 
record  his  vote  without  due  cause  was  liable  to 


204         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

fine  and  imprisonment.  Thus  the  Government 
kept  up  the  farce  of  a  constitutional  system. 

Reflecting  people  of  all  nationalities  within 
the  Dual  Monarchy  realised  that  the  people 
had  no  power.  All  decisions  in  the  realm  of 
the  foreign  policy  of  the  country  were  made  by 
the  reigning  monarch.  No  Minister  was  held 
responsible.  The  power  of  voting  money  for 
the  army  and  navy  and  all  objects  common  to 
Austria  and  Hungary  was  not  invested  in  the 
Parliaments,  but  held  by  the  Delegations.  The 
Delegates  were  elected  by  the  Parliaments,  but 
the  nominations  v/ere  made  by  Government, 
and  men  noted  for  their  pliability  were  selected. 
Delegates  sometimes  protested  against  expendi- 
ture. An  instance  of  this  kind  occurred  when 
Austria-Hungary  embarked  upon  her  big  fleet 
policy.  Money  was  asked  for  to  build  Dread- 
noughts.    The  Delegations  refused. 

The  Government  did  not  give  up  its  project. 
It  gave  orders  to  the  Stablimento  Tecnico  in 
Trieste  to  lay  down  the  first  ship  "on  spec," 
with  a  very  broad  hint  as  to  who  would  purchase 
the  vessel  when  complete.  This  dishonesty, 
first  towards  the  taxpayers,  then  towards 
Europe,  is  a  particularly  striking  sample  of  the 
policy  carried  on  by  the  country. 

Members  of  Parliament  in  both  Austria  and 


AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN  CONSTITUTION    205 

Hungary  received  payment  for  each  day's 
attendance.  When  Parliament  was  dissolved 
this  payment  ceased.  The  members  were,  for 
the  most  part,  men  who  required  the  money  to 
live.  They  had  given  up  their  profession  to 
come  to  Vienna  to  represent  their  constituencies, 
and  the  closing  of  Parliament  meant  the  cutting 
off  of  their  incomes.  It  was  therefore  to  their 
interest  to  do  nothing  to  anger  the  Government. 
The  laws  of  the  Constitution  provided  for  the 
election  of  another  Parliament,  but  in  actual 
practice  it  remained  shut  until  it  pleased  the 
Emperor  to  permit  another  election  to  take 
place.  Persons  of  importance  did  not  seek 
election  to  the  "Punch  and  Judy"  show  or 
madhouse  on  the  Ringstrasse,  as  the  Austrian 
Parliament  was  usually  called. 

A  stormy  sitting  at  the  Vienna  Parliament 
was  an  interesting  sight.  A  cordon  of  police 
usually  guarded  the  stately  block  of  buildings 
when  a  row  was  going  on  within.  From  time  to 
time  a  side  door  would  open  and  angry  atten- 
dants would  throw  out  a  dozen  men,  panting 
from  the  struggle.  They  would  fall  on  the  soft 
carpet  of  snow,  and  then  be  sent  about  their 
business  by  the  police  beyond.  They  were  the 
public  who  had  been  sitting  in  the  gallery  and 
who  had  joined  too  loudly  in  the  dem.onstra- 


206         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

tions  going  on  below.  Inside  the  atmosphere 
was  thick.  The  Parliament  had  been  sitting 
for  two  days  and  nights  unceasingly.  The 
Czechs,  who  wished  to  obstruct  the  passing  of 
a  Bill,  had  been  behaving  like  buffoons.  They 
rattled  their  desks  and  banged  the  lids  to 
drown  the  speaker's  voice.  They  brought  all 
kinds  of  noisy  instruments  to  disturb  the  de- 
liberations. Rain-machines,  used  in  theatres  to 
imitate  the  sound  of  rain  on  the  roofs,  were 
rattled ;  other  members  blew  upon  trumpets  and 
penny  whistles.  Czechs  of  huge  build  spoke 
for  ten  hours  at  a  time.  Friends  supplied  them 
with  water  and  chocolate  while  they  carried  on 
their  obstruction.  At  night  the  Opposition  slept 
in  the  passages  upon  mattresses.  Rolled  in 
top-coats,  they  v/ere  ready  to  swarm  in  when- 
ever their  services  were  required  at  a  moment's 
notice.  The  attendants  smiled  at  the  heaps  of 
bodies  lying  prone,  but  ready  to  fight.  The 
floor  of  the  Parliament  was  untidy.  Balls  of 
paper  soaked  in  ink  that  had  been  flung  at  an 
opponent  or  at  the  President  were  seen  on  the 
floor.  All  kinds  of  missiles  lay  thick,  for  the 
attendants,  careful  of  their  personal  safety,  had 
not  ventured  to  pick  them  up.  It  was  difficult 
to  realise  that  the  Austrian  Parliament  was  not 
a  third-rate  tavern. 


AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN  CONSTITUTION   207 

Year  after  year  the  Parliament  spent  the 
precious  hours  that  should  have  been  given  to 
making  its  voice  heard  in  the  country  to  this 
kind  of  foolishness.  The  Opposition,  instead 
of  securing  a  majority,  always  hoped  to  delay 
business  and  thus  secure  concessions  that  the 
majority  was  unwilling  to  grant.  They  did  not 
see  that  they  were  playing  the  game  of  the 
Central  Administration,  which  rejoiced  to  see 
them  making  themselves  ridiculous  and  losing 
such  influence  as  they  possessed  by  virtue  of 
their  office. 

In  Hungary  things  were  worse  than  in  Aus- 
tria. The  elections  were  nothing  more  than  a 
farce.  There  was  no  secret  ballot.  Votes  were 
openly  bought  and  sold.  When  the  Govern- 
ment could  not  secure  a  majority  for  its  candi- 
date, soldiers  were  used  to  keep  the  Opposition 
voters  from  the  booths.  The  Hungarians 
clamoured  for  general  suffrage  and  the  removal 
of  the  property  qualification,  which  kept  the 
election  in  the  hands  of  a  few  men,  but  they 
asked  in  vain.  Their  country  districts  were 
represented  by  Government  candidates,  and 
even  in  the  towns  it  was  seldom  that  an  inde- 
pendent candidate  of  any  standing  got  in. 

The  disorders  were  even  worse  than  in  the 
Vienna    Parliament.      The    President,    Count 


208         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

Tisza,  thought  nothing  of  clearing  the  House 
with  soldiers,  and  had  the  members  chased  into 
the  street  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  The 
members  were  constantly  sending  challenges 
and  fighting  duels  among  themselves  instead  of 
attending  to  business. 

The  Government  delegated  large  powers  to 
the  local  Diets,  which  decided  questions  of  ex- 
penditure, and,  upon  the  whole,  acquitted  them- 
selves of  their  tasks  in  a  very  satisfactory 
manner.  Unfortunately,  much  of  the  money 
that  was  granted  for  local  purposes  remained 
unspent,  as  the  permission  required  for  liquidat- 
ing the  sums  did  not  come  from  the  Central 
Government.  If  a  road  were  required  for  mili- 
tary purposes  or  a  railway  needed  for  the  trans- 
port of  troops,  the  Central  Government  made  a 
handsome  contribution  to  the  cost;  if  it  were 
simply  required  for  the  development  of  the 
country  generally,  the  project  was  not  en- 
couraged. When  the  Diets  ventured  into 
the  realms  of  politics  they  were  promptly 
informed  that  they  must  keep  within  the  limits 
of  their  own  jurisdiction. 

The  central  authorities  in  Vienna  and  Buda- 
pesth  had  for  years  followed  a  policy  of  blind- 
ing the  people;  they  had  encouraged  frivolity 
in  every  form.     Everything  was  done  to  turn 


AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN  CONSTITUTION    209 

people's  minds  from  serious  subjects  to  pleasure 
and  enjoyment.  The  reputation  enjoyed  by 
both  Vienna  and  Budapesth  as  the  gayest 
capitals  in  Europe  was  fully  deserved.  The 
intellectual  classes  were  completely  hood- 
winked, and  had  no  idea  of  what  was  really 
going  on,  either  at  home  or  abroad.  The  same 
results  were  accomplished  in  the  country  by 
keeping  the  people  in  ignorance  and  with- 
holding education  from  them.  While  much 
money  was  spent  on  the  education  of  Germans 
and  Magyars,  the  ruling  races,  great  economy 
was  practised  towards  the  Slavs.  The  powerful 
Bohemians  managed  to  secure  education  for 
their  children,  and  the  Government  statistics 
show  that  lOO  per  cent,  of  the  children  of  school 
age  in  Bohemia  actually  were  in  attendance  at 
school  in  1906.  In  Galicia  only  85  per  cent,  are 
reported  as  in  attendance ;  while  in  Croatia 
68  per  cent,  went  to  school,  and  in  Bosnia  and 
Herzegowina  only  14  per  cent.  In  every  case 
the  local  authorities  were  forced  to  provide 
education  for  the  children,  unless  they  lived  on 
isolated  farms  where  it  was  really  impossible. 
The  Government,  however,  refused  its  grants 
wherever  it  could,  as  the  money  was  needed  for 
purposes  whicH  did  not  appear  in  the  Budget. 
The  Slavs  and  Croats  protested  bitterly  against 

p 


210         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

a  system  which  inflicted  upon  them  heavy  taxes, 
mostly  indirect,  and  kept  the  benefits  for  the 
ruling  races.  This  maladministration  was  one 
of  the  chief  causes  of  the  continual  unrest 
among  the  subject-peoples. 

The  Emperor,  and  indeed  all  the  members 
of  the  Imperial  family,  lived  in  an  atmosphere 
apart.  They  never  considered  whither  their 
policy  was  leading,  nor  that  the  system  of  sup- 
pression could  not  be  carried  on  indefinitely  at 
this  period  of  history.  Most  of  the  men  in 
power  would  have  shone  in  the  Middle  Ages; 
they  were  useless  and  impracticable  now  that 
commercial  travellers  have  taken  the  places  of 
knights-errant  and  trade  is  more  important  than 
armaments.  They  did  not  realise  that  in  sup- 
pressing progress  they  were  handicapping  the 
country  in  its  race  for  commercial  supremacy 
and  preventing  its  being  able  to  compete  with 
Germany  at  home  and  abroad.  In  their  fear 
of  the  "  people  "  getting  to  the  fore,  they  neg- 
lected the  foe  beyond  the  frontier. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

WHO  MURDERED  THE  ARCHDUKE? 

The  constant  friction  between  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  and  his  heir  was  always  in- 
creased when  the  autumn  manoeuvres  came 
round.  The  Emperor,  who  was  over  eighty, 
wished  to  attend  them,  and  on  two  occasions 
they  had  to  be  put  off,  as  the  doctors  said  that 
the  monarch  could  not  spend  his  nights  sleeping 
in  a  tent.  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  was 
always  too  ready  to  take  up  the  duties  which 
would  have  been  performed  by  the  Emperor 
had  he  been  younger.  Thus  the  hatred  be- 
tween the  reigning  monarch  and  his  heir  in- 
creased every  year.  The  Emperor  was  pre- 
pared to  allow  his  heir  a  large  sum  of  money 
if  he  would  consent  to  resign  his  right  to  the 
throne.  This  was  not  because  of  his  personal 
antipathy.    The  doctors  who  attended  the  Arch- 

P    2 


212         SEVEN   YEARS   IN   VIENNA 

duke  said  that  he  was  not  entirely  responsible 
for  his  actions.  They  suspected  that  he  had 
an  abscess  on  the  brain.  He  had  committed 
hasty,  ill-considered  actions  that  could  be  par- 
doned in  an  Archduke,  but  that  were  not  pos- 
sible for  an  Emperor,  who  must  always  keep 
his  temper.  The  Imperial  family  dreaded  the 
time  of  his  coming  to  the  throne.  They  had 
notified  the  Emperor  that  they  would  withdraw 
from  the  Court  if  Duchess  Hohenberg  were 
made  Empress.  At  that  epoch  no  one  doubted 
that  the  Archduke  would  create  her  Empress 
of  Austria  and  Queen  of  Hungary  on  his  acces- 
sion. 

The  manoeuvres  in  Bosnia — arranged  to  take 
place  there  because  the  peoples  of  the  newly- 
annexed  provinces  had  been  somewhat  rest- 
less— were  about  to  take  place.  Archduke 
Francis  Ferdinand  decided  to  assist.  His  wife 
said  that  she  would  accompany  him.  The  Em- 
peror was  very  angry.  He  did  not  wish  the 
Archduke  to  go  to  Bosnia.  He  was  much  too 
unpopular  to  take  such  a  risk.  When  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  heard  that  Duchess  Hohenberg 
was  to  accompany  her  husband,  his  wrath  knew 
no  bounds.  The  ladies  of  the  Imperial  family 
never  accompanied  their  husbands  on  such 
occasions.     If  the  Archduke  and  his  wife  went 


WHO  MURDERED  THE  ARCHDUKE  ?  213 

to  Bosnia  she  would  be  received  as  the  future 
Empress  of  Austria.  The  Emperor  forbade 
him  to  take  her.  The  Archduke  insisted.  If 
there  was  any  danger,  his  wife,  who  was  really 
courageous,  would  wish  to  be  at  his  side.  The 
Emperor,  who  was  very  jealous  about  his 
authority,  was  extremely  angry.  It  is  very 
probable  that  he  did  not  hide  his  feelings  from 
his  near  relations. 

The  next  news  that  reached  Vienna  was  that 
the  Archduke  and  his  wife  had  been  assas- 
sinated at  Sarajevo.  The  crime  was  committed 
on  a  Sunday.  It  was  midsummer  in  Vienna, 
and,  strange  to  say,  every  important  personage 
was  on  the  spot.  As  a  rule,  the  official  per- 
sonages left  Vienna  on  the  Saturday,  when 
there  were  two  consecutive  holidays,  as  in  this 
case,  the  Monday  being  a  fete-ddiy,  and  spent 
the  week-end  at  the  Semmering.  On  this  par- 
ticular occasion  everyone  was  in  Vienna.  The 
Emperor  was  at  Ischl.  The  telegram  with  the 
news  was  sent  there  first.  He  exclaimed,  "  What 
impertinence  of  those  Bosnians ! "  but  was  not 
otherwise  moved. 

The  official  account  of  the  assassination, 
which  was  full  of  discrepancies,  was  then'  sent 
to  Vienna.  According  to  this  account,  a  bomb 
had  been  thrown  at  the  Archduke  and  his  wife 


214         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

on  their  way  to  the  Sarajevo  town-hall.    It  had 
failed    to    kill    them.      The    Archduke,    little 
moved  by  the  occurrence,  merely  taunted  the 
/  Mayor  of  Sarajevo  with  the  lack  of  courtesy 
that  the  people  had  shown.     "  Instead  of  pre- 
senting us  with  bouquets,  you  receive  us  with 
bombs."     The  Archduke  could  afford  to  make 
merry  over  his  escape.     He  naturally  expected 
1  that  the  streets  had  been  cleared   of   people 
,  during  his  long  visit  to  the  town-hall.     It  was  a 
matter  of  elementary  precaution.    The  Bosnian 
police,  however,  had  received  instructions  from 
Vienna  that  the  Archduke's  safety  was  to  be 
left  in  the  hands  of  the  military.     The  Arch- 
duke and  his  wife  entered  the  car.     The  driver 
started  off.     He  was  in  the  plot.     He  drove 
them  right  across  the  road  to  where  the  mur- 
derer was  waiting.      This   meant  running  the 
car  on  the  wrong  side  of   the  road.      Every- 
one    noticed     this,     but    no     one     protested. 
No  one  seized  the  assassin  after  he  had  fired 
at  the  Archduke's  head.     He  had  ample  time 
to  kill  the  wife  too.     The  boy,  too,  knew  a 
secret  that  was  carefully  kept  in  the  Imperial 
family.       Archduke    Francis    Ferdinand    was 
wearing  armour.     For  this  reason  the  assassins 
tried  to  kill  him  with  a  bomb.     This  attempt 
having   failed,   the   assassin   fired   at   his   head 


WHO  MURDERED  THE  ARCHDUKE?     215 

instead  of  at  his  breast.  Both  Kaiser  Wilhelm 
and  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand  spent  much 
time  and  thought  in  trying  to  find  bullet-proof 
armour.  At  the  time  of  the  assassination  the 
Archduke  was  wearing  a  silken  vest  an  inch 
thick.  It  was  woven  obliquely — made  on  the 
same  principle  as  the  jackets  used  for  auto- 
mobile tyres.  It  was  warranted  to  turn  the 
point  of  a  knife  or  bullet.  The  vest  was  cum- 
bersome and  somewhat  warm.  It  gave  the 
Archduke  an  appearance  of  extreme  stoutness. 
He,  however,  knowing  how  intensely  he  was 
hated  in  Austria  and  Hungary,  never  cared  to 
appear  in  public  without  some  protective 
armour.  Steel  corselets  were  excellent  in  by- 
gone days,  but  are  no  use  against  a  modern 
rifle.  The  Archduke  feared  he  might  be  shot 
from  a  window.  The  secret  that  the  Arch- 
duke was  wearing  armour  was  known  to  half- 
a-dozen  people  at  most.  The  assassin  must 
have  learnt  it  from  a  member  of  the  Imperial 
family. 

A  number  of  reporters  started  for  Sarajevo 
that  night  to  find  out  what  had  really  happened 
there  on  that  dark  Sunday.  They  were 
turned  back  by  the  police.  All  letters  from 
individuals  in  Sarajevo  were  censored.  The 
telegraphic  service  was  suspended.    The  police 


/ 


216         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

were  never  even  reprimanded  for  allowing  the 
heir  to  the  throne  to  be  assassinated.  On  the 
contrary,  the  heads  of  the  force  were  promoted 
shortly  afterwards. 

/(   In  Vienna  the  news  was  received  with  ill- 
concealed  satisfaction.     Everyone,  from  Arch- 
duke to  crossing-sweeper,  feared  the  day  of  his 
coming  to  power.     The  story  went  out  to  the 
/world  that  the  Archduke   Francis   Ferdinand 
'had  been  killed  by  Serbs.     This  w^as  not  true. 
I  The  young  men  concerned  in  the  conspiracy 
were  Bosnians,  and  Austrian   subjects.      The 
Government,  however,  saw  that   there   was    a 
chance    of    forcing    a    war    upon    Servia.      If 
Austria  could  only  prove  that  Servia  had  been 
responsible    for   the   crime,   she    could    under- 
take   her    long-planned    ''  vengeance    promen- 
ade "   to    Belgrade    with    the    assurance    that 
Europe   would   not   interfere.      Statesmen   an- 
ticipated no  difficulty  in  fastening  the  guilt  on 
Servia,  as  the  murders  of  King  Alexander  and 
Queen    Draga   were    not   forgotten.     Austria, 
however,  forgot  her  own  black  record.     Em- 
peror Maximilian  of  Mexico  had  been  shot.     It 
was  always  felt  that  more  might  have  been  done 
by  his  own   family   for  his   safety.      Empress 
Elizabeth   had   been   assassinated    at   Geneva. 
Her    decease    was    most    convenient.       The 


WHO  MURDERED  THE  ARCHDUKE  ?    217 

country  was  wearied  of  hearing  of  the  pilgrim- 
age of  the  heartbroken  woman  through  Europe. 
Crown  Prince  Rudolf,  who  was  much  too 
popular,  had  also  been  murdered  mysteriously. 
The  persons  concerned  in  his  death  had  all  been 
exiled.  They  had  been  sent  to  South  America, 
but  pensions  sufficient  to  keep  them  in  luxury 
for  the  rest  of  their  lives  had  been  bestowed 
upon  them.  These  riches  were  only  held  on 
condition  that  the  fearful  night  at  the  lonely 
hunting-box  near  Vienna  was  never  mentioned. 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph  had  thus  lost  his  three 
nearest  relatives  by  assassination. 

The  news  of  the  Archduke's  assassination 
was  only  discussed  in  whispers  in  Vienna. 
Everyone  was  afraid  of  arrest.  Nevertheless, 
no  one  thought  of  accusing  Servia.  Archduke 
Francis  Ferdinand  was  the  one  man  in  all  the 
country  who  favoured  the  Slavs.  His  wife's 
influence  would  secure  advancement  at  Court 
for  every  man  with  Slavonic  blood  in  his  veins. 
The  Germans  feared  that  they  would  be  over- 
run with  them.  While  Austrians  and  Hun- 
garians generally  detested  the  Archduke,  the 
Slavs  loved  him  devotedly.  It  was  clear  that 
neither  the  Austrian  Slavs  nor  Servia  had  any 
interest  in  the  Archduke's  death.  They  had 
everything  to  lose. 


218         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

The  Imperial  family  was  most  anxious  for 
his  death.  Archduke  Frederick  had  never  for- 
gotten the  slight  put  upon  his  daughter. 

The  assassin  had  definite  instructions  to 
murder  the  Duchess  Hohenberg.  Such  orders 
could  only  come  from  persons  actuated  by 
motives  of  personal  hatred.  No  one  else  in  the 
world  desired  her  death.  Women,  especially 
aristocrats  and  the  mothers  of  families,  are  held 
in  great  veneration  in  Slav  countries.  It  is 
certain  that  had  the  Bosnians  arranged  the  plot, 
the  Archduke  would  have  been  shot,  but  the 
morganatic  wife  spared.  She  was  not  even  a 
member  of  the  Imperial  family.  Why  should 
she  be  sacrificed  ? 

The  remains  of  the  Archduke  and  his  wife 
were  brought  to  Vienna.  The  Austrians,  a 
Catholic  people,  and  accustomed  to  exag- 
gerated respect  being  paid  to  the  dead,  were 
deeply  shocked  at  the  funeral  arrangements. 
The  Imperial  family  wished  that  every  possible 
insult  should  be  shown  to  the  remains  of  the 
defunct  lady-in-waiting. 

Italians  living  in  Trieste  describe  with  horror 
the  landing  of  the  cofhns,  which  were  brought 
from  Bosnia  by  sea.  They  had  no  cause  to 
love  the  Archduke,  but  were  outraged  by  the 
disrespect  to  the  dead.    The  sailors  who  carried 


WHO  MURDERED  THE  ARCHDUKE?    219 

them  from  the  ship  let  one  coffin  drop  upon  the 
quay  through  carelessness.     It  lay  there  until 
they   had   taken   breath    and    felt   inclined    to 
resume   their   burden.      The    funeral    arrange- 
ments  in   Vienna   were   of   a   very   third-class 
order.     The  Austrians  said  :    "  The   Imperial 
family   has   no   respect — not   even    for   death. 
Their    hate    pursues    its    victims    beyond    the 
tomb."    The  city  was  filled  with  reports  of  un- 
seemly   disputes    about    the    funeral    arrange- 
ments.   The  Imperial  family  wished  to  separate 
the  pair  of  lovers,  who  had  been  so  loyal  to 
each  other  in  life,  and  bury  them  separately.    It 
was  an  outrage,  they  said,  that  any  Habsburg 
should  walk  behind  the  coffin  of  a  morganatic 
wife.     Finally,  it  was  arranged  that  the  coffins 
should  lie  in  state  side  by  side  in  the  Hofburg 
Chapel.     The   Chapelle  Ardente   was   poorly 
fitted;   trappings  for  a  third-class  funeral  were 
used.     The  military  party  in  Austria-Hungary 
was  indignant  that  such  an  insult  should  be  put 
on  a  soldier.     Old  men,  dressed  in  their  uni- 
forms ablaze  with  Orders  and  military  decora- 
tions, entered  the  sombre  chapel,  which  was  not 
even  properly  supplied  with  candles.     Bursting 
with  indignation  and  rage,  they  knelt  and  said 
a  short  prayer  for  the  dead.     The  deep-toned 
mutterings  sounded  more  like  cries  for  venge- 


220         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

ance  than  prayers  for  the  souls  of  the  departed. 
Bohemian  nobles  came  into  the  chapel.  They 
glared  at  the  unseemly  sight.  Everything  was 
poverty-stricken. 

Early  in  the  morning  a  huge  crowd  had 
gathered  to  take  part  in  the  procession  in  front 
of  the  coffins.  Every  Austro-Hungarian  sub- 
ject has  the  right  to  see  the  face  of  the  deceased 
monarch  or  of  the  heir  to  the  throne  after  death. 
The  Archduke's  coffin  was  sealed  down.  His 
face  could  not  be  exposed ;  his  head  had  been 
so  disfigured.  But,  nevertheless,  the  Ringstrasse 
was  filled  with  people.  They  were  permitted  to 
enter  the  chapel  in  single  file.  The  police  on 
the  great  Ringstrasse  sent  many  home,  assuring 
them  that  their  turn  to  enter  the  Hofburg  would 
never  be  reached.  This  show  of  popular  sym- 
pathy had  enraged  the  Court.  When  the 
funeral  procession  was  on  its  way  to  the  station 
in  Vienna  after  the  lying-in-state,  an  un- 
rehearsed incident  took  place.  A  large  number 
of  Bohemian  aristocrats,  with  Prince  Max  Egon 
Fiirstenburg  at  their  head,  assembled  in  one  of 
the  squares.  They  were  either  in  costume  or 
uniform,  and  were  wearing  the  arms  that  be- 
longed to  their  rank — short  daggers,  for  the 
most  part.  They  walked  bareheaded  behind 
the   funeral   as   chief   mourners   to   show  their 


WHO  MURDERED  THE  ARCHDUKE  ?    221 

respect  to  Duchess  Hohenberg,  a  member  of 
the  Bohemian  aristocracy,  and  their  resentment 
at  the  insults  that  had  been  heaped  upon  her 
head.  Who  were  th^  proud  Habsburgs  to  treat 
a  Bohemian  and  a  woman  in  such  a  way  ?  Their 
whole  attitude  was  not  one  of  mourning,  but  of 
protest. 

The  finals  scenes  took  place  at  Arstatten, 
beyond  the  Danube.  They  were  disgraceful 
beyond  anything  that  had  happened  before.  A 
violent  storm  forced  the  funeral  cortege  to  take 
refuge  in  an  inn.  The  mutes  became  offen- 
sively drunk.  Ghastly  stories  of  the  coffins 
being  knocked  off  the  chairs  that  were  support- 
ing them  were  circulated  in  Vienna.  These 
may  have  been  exaggerated.  There  was,  how-' 
ever,  some  truth  in  the  tales  of  impiety. 

There  was  no  one  responsible  in  charge  of 
the  funeral.  This  was  extraordinary,  as  the 
most  unimportant  Court  ceremonies  are  always 
managed  by  experts  long  trained  to  do  the  right 
thing.  Nothing  is  left  to  chance  or  accident. 
But  the  Archduke,  the  heir  to  the  throne,  was 
buried  with  less  respect  than  would  have  been 
shown  to  an  employe  in  the  Court  service  had 
he  died  that  week. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

WHY  GERMANY  DECIDED  UPON  WAR 

Austria-Hungary  had  long  been  anxious  to 
go  to  war.  She  had  been  straining  at  the  leash 
for  years.  The  peaceful  issue  to  the  Annexa- 
tion crisis  had  not  pleased  Austrian  statesmen. 
They  were  still  less  satisfied  at  the  check  put 
upon  their  aggressive  plans  at  the  time  of  the 
signing  of  the  Treaty  of  Bucharest.  In  the 
first  instance,  the  credit  of  preserving  peace  was 
entirely  due  to  Germany.  She  was  not  ready. 
On  the  second  occasion,  Italy's  refusal  to  fight 
against  the  Serbs  or  to  stand  by  Austria  in  an 
aggressive  war  was  probably  the  decisive  factor, 
for  then  Germany  was  ready,  and  only  waiting 
for  a  good  pretext  to  break  the  peace  of  Europe. 

When  Kaiser  Wilhelm  heard  of  the  assas- 
sination at  Sarajevo  he  immediately  saw  that 
the  chance  so  long  sought  had  come.  Such  an 
opportunity  would  never  occur  again.  But  he 
knew  that  he  must  play  his  cards  with  skill. 


WHY  GERMANY  DECIDED  ON  WAR     223 

The  Emperor  of  Austria  would  be  delighted  at 
a  chance  of  punishing  Servia,  for  her  states- 
men, who  felt  secure  under  the  protection  of 
Russia,  had  used  expressions  in  parleying  with 
Austria  that  irritated  the  aged  Emperor.  He 
could  not  brook  that  small  Balkan  States  of 
very  recent  growth  should  place  themselves  on 
a  level  with  the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire. 
His  councillors  succeeded  in  making  him  be- 
lieve that  the  Serbs  were  responsible  for  the 
crime  of  Sarajevo.  The  aged  Emperor,  per- 
haps, had  some  suspicion  of  the  truth.  He 
did  not  want  to  know  it,  however.  Providence 
had  intervened  and  removed  an  obnoxious  per- 
sonage, and  had  at  the  same  time  given  Austria 
a  chance  of  thrashing  Servia.  The  Emperor 
considered  that  the  thrashing  was  long  over- 
due. Why  should  he,  the  faithful  son  of  the 
Church,  inquire  too  closely  into  events  that  had 
fallen  out  so  propitiously?  The  Emperor, 
however,  only  wished  to  send  a  punitive  ex- 
pedition to  Belgrade.  Gunboats  could  bombard 
the  capital  from  the  Danube,  and  Austria's 
honour  would  be  satisfied.  The  Emperor  in 
no  wise  wished  for  a  war  with  Russia.  Apart 
from  other  considerations,  he  was  bound  in 
honour  not  to  seek  a  quarrel  with  the  "  peace  " 
Czar.     When  the  Annexation  crisis  was  at  its 


224         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

height,  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  sent  Prince 
Hohenlohe  to  St.  Petersburg  with  an  autograph 
letter,  begging  the  Czar  to  allow  him  to  end  his 
days  in  peace.  The  terms  in  which  this  docu- 
ment was  couched  made  it  almost  impossible 
for  Austria  to  seek  war  with  Russia  so  long  as 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph  was  at  the  head  of 
affairs.  It  was  a  breach  of  the  honour  that  reigns 
among  monarchs,  for  the  appeal  had  been  made 
as  from  a  brother-sovereign.  Kaiser  W^ilhelm 
was  aware  of  this.  But  he  was  ready  to  stoop  to 
any  crime  to  accomplish  his  object.  He  and  his 
councillors  decided  that  the  aged  man  at 
Schonbrunn  could  be  deceived.  He  must  think 
that  the  war  would  be  merely  a  local  affair. 
The  Austrians,  too,  were  longing  to  show  their 
prowess  against  Servia,  but  a  war  with  Russia 
would  not  be  popular  either  in  Austria  or  Hun- 
gary. It  is  doubtful  whether  any  Austro-Hun- 
garian  statesman  who  understood  the  situation 
would  have  consented  to  acts  that  must  inevit- 
ably lead  to  a  European  war.  The  idea  of 
a  series  of  small  wars,  first  against  Italy  and 
then  against  the  mutinous  Balkan  States,  was 
favoured  in  Vienna.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  had  a 
singular  talent  for  discovering  unscrupulous 
men.  The  German  Ambassador  in  Vienna, 
Count   Tchirsky,  was   a   complete  tool    in  the 


WHY  GERMANY  DECIDED  ON  WAR     225 

hands  of  the  Kaiser.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  lie 
to  Count  Tisza  when  occasion  occurred.  Count 
Tisza  is  a  man  of  peculiar  loyalty,  and  he  could 
not  understand  utter  unscrupulousness  in  an- 
other. Moreover,  like  all  aristocrats,  he  was  at 
a  disadvantage  in  dealing  with  Germans,  as  he 
was  a  gentleman  and  his  opponents  were  not. 
He  was  always  at  Budapesth,  and  therefore 
had  no  chance  of  watching  the  machinations 
employed  by  the  Germans  in  Vienna.  With 
Count  Berchtold  the  German  Ambassador  had 
an  easy  task.  The  Count  did  not  take  things 
seriously,  and  fell  into  the  toils  spread  for  him 
by  German  statesmen.  He  really  believed  that 
the  Emperor  was  an  old  man  in  his  dotage,  and 
neglected  the  other  side  of  his  character.  In 
spite  of  his  age  and  weakness,  the  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  had  enjoyed  a  unique  experi- 
ence as  the  oldest  reigning  monarch  in  Europe, 
and  was  able  through  this  to  judge  of  any 
question  with  an  acumen  exhibited  by  few 
politicians. 

Germany  decided  that  the  moment  for  letting 
a  European  war  break  loose  had  come,  and  her 
reasons  for  this  decision  were  weighty.  The 
most  important  of  all  was  the  "  Slav  danger," 
as  it  was  generally  called  in  Germany  and  Aus- 
.tria-Hungary.     Twenty  years  ago  the  Germxan 

Q 


226         SEVEN    YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

family  averaged  sixteen  to  eighteen  children. 
In  Austria,  too,  large  families  had  been  the  rule. 
The  Magyars  in  Hungary  still  boasted  big 
families,  but  the  cancer  that  had  bitten  into 
German  social  life  was  beginning  to  be  seen 
there,  too.  The  one-child  family  had  become 
the  fashion  in  Germany.  The  mode  was 
adopted  by  the  Germans  in  Austria.  States- 
men scolded,  and  proposed  to  tax  bachelors  and 
childless  couples.  But  they  were  unable  to 
stop  the  terrifying  decrease  in  the  population. 
Meanwhile,  the  Slavonic  races  in  both  Germany 
and  Austria  and  Hungary  multiplied  very 
rapidly.  Military  men  complained  that  regi- 
ments, officers  and  men,  were  composed  entirely 
of  Slavs,  because  there  were  not  sufficient 
Austro-Germans  or  Magyars,  It  was  impos- 
sible to  enter  a  room  where  men  of  purely  Ger- 
man extraction  had  assembled  without  hearing 
of  this  "  Slav  danger,"  which  hung  like  a  night- 
mare over  the  ruling  races  in  Germany.  Aus- 
tria and  Hungary  saw  their  preponderance 
threatened.  They  doctored  statistics  to  hide 
the  truth.  This  was  of  little  use.  The  Slav  type 
was  unmistakable.  Slavs  did  not  care  to  inter- 
marry with  Germans,  and  the  race  remained 
purely  Slavonic,  although  Serbs  and  Czechs 
often  intermarried.    A  war  would  afford  an  op- 


WHY  GERMANY  DECIDED  ON  WAR     227 

portunity  of  reducing  the  Slav  population.  The 
military  authorities  had  arranged  to  place  the 
regiments  composed  of  subject-races  in  the 
front  of  the  battle  so  that  they  might  be  killed 
off.  In  19 14  leading  men  in  both  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary  considered  that  war  was  in- 
evitable within  the  next  five  years  if  they  were 
to  retain  their  supremacy. 

The  financial  factor,  too,  was  largely  respon- 
sible for  hastening  the  date  of  the  war. 
Large  sums  had  been  spent  on  armaments  in 
both  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  far  beyond 
the  capacity  of  either  country.  Taxation  had 
risen  imperceptibly,  and  with  it  the  cost  of 
living.  This  had  affected  the  middle  classes. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  the  families  of  officials 
in  State  employ  and  army  officers  ever  got  a 
really  satisfactory  meal  in  the  last  years  of  pre- 
paration. Men  dressed  in  gorgeous  uniforms, 
and  with  Orders  and  decorations  that  showed 
their  rank,  walked  about  the  streets  gaunt  and 
hungry-looking. 

People  said,  "  This  cannot  go  on."  States- 
men saw  that  it  would  be  revolution  or  war. 
Austria  was  faced  with  bankruptcy  unless  she 
could  fight  a  successful  war  which  would  open 
fresh  regions  for  exploitation  and  relieve  her 
of  her  surplus  Slavs. 

Q  2 


228         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

Undue  importance  was  attached  to  news  of 
unrest  in  Great  Britain,  both  in  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary.  Spies,  men  who  were  only 
too  ready  to  believe  that  Britain  was  at  her  last 
gasp,  brought  back  reports  that  a  revolution 
was  about  to  break  out.  The  Irish  question 
was  misunderstood.  The  greed  and  hate  that 
had  been  nurtured  in  every  German  heart  pre- 
vented the  spy  from  exercising  any  judgment, 
while  the  statesmen  who  should  have  controlled 
their  reports  had  also  lost  their  usual  faculty  of 
calm  judgment  in  the  bitterness  of  their  hate. 
The  woman  question,  which  was  seen  in  its 
ugliest  aspects  abroad,  made  the  Germans 
realise  that  there  was  something  wrong.  Why 
were  they  so  discontented  ?  What  had  been 
done  to  render  them  so  bitter?  The  question 
was  asked  in  the  Press  and  in  public,  and  no 
explanation  was  forthcoming. 

Jews  who  travelled  throughout  Europe  on 
business  brought  back  evil  reports  of  conditions 
in  England.  They  said  that  they  had  searched 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  for  a  capable 
business  man  to  push  their  interests.  They  had 
returned  from  their  quest  unsatisfied.  Germans 
and  Austrians  who  had  resided  in  England  ex- 
plained this  by  saying  that  all  the  better  ele- 
ments in  the  country  had  emigrated  long  ago. 


WHY  GERMANY  DECIDED  ON  WAR     229 

Men  could  find  no  work  unless  they  had 
influence.  These  facts  were  confirmed  by 
observation,  and  undue  importance  was  at- 
tached to  them,  single  examples  being  too 
hastily  accepted  as  indicative  of  the  general 
state  of  things. 

The  preference  shown  by  English  business 
men  for  German  clerks  was  regarded  as  an- 
other proof  that  the  English  were  "  a  back 
number." 

If  Britain  were  degenerating,  Russia  was  on 
the  up-grade.  She  was  arming.  She  was  re- 
forming her  public  offices.  Large  loans  had 
been  contracted,  and  she  was  about  to  build 
railways  to  the  frontier.  The  Austro-Russian 
front  in  Galicia  bristled  with  fortresses.  Every 
week  brought  news  of  some  new  fortifications, 
made  either  on  the  Austrian  or  the  Russian  side. 
The  Slav  peoples  in  the  Balkans  were  also  on 
the  up-grade.  Everywhere  the  Germans  saw 
themselves  surrounded  by  Slavs,  who  were 
educating  and  improving  themselves. 

Meanwhile,  not  only  the  German  people,  but 
the  German  army,  was  deteriorating.  Nasty 
stories,  like  The  Small  Garrison,  were  being 
written,  describing  life  in  small  garrison  towns. 
The  Austrian  and  Hungarian  officers  were  also 
suffering  from  the  corrupt  life  which  they  led. 


230         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

It  was  very  uncertain  whether  they  would  have 
the  necessary  nerve  to  take  the  initiative  at  a 
crisis.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  saw  that  the  time  was 
not  far  distant  when  his  officers  would  be  as 
bad  as  the  Austrians.  It  was  bad  policy  to 
wait  until  the  growing  evil  that  had  corrupted 
the  Austro-Hungarian  army  had  infected  his 
own. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

DIPLOMATIC    METHODS  :     A    COMPARISON 

Diplomacy  had  succeeded  in  keeping  the 
peace  on  two  former  occasions.  In  Western 
Europe  it  was  believed  that  it  would  be  suc- 
cessful again.  Austria's  intention  of  going  to 
war  was  not  regarded  as  serious.  The  Euro- 
pean jfinancier  especially  could  not  bring  him- 
self to  believe  in  war.  Some  of  the  ablest  men 
in  Europe  sat  in  the  open-air  cafe  on  the  Ring- 
strasse,  unable  to  close  an  eye  in  sleep  for  fear 
that  they  should  miss  news  of  supreme  import- 
ance and  not  be  there  to  "  cover  "  at  the  critical 
moment.  At  two  in  the  morning  the  great 
houses  on  either  side  of  the  street  shook  as  the 
motors  carrying  the  big  guns  rumbled  past  the 
cafe.  They  were  taken  off  at  dead  of  night 
and  deposited  on  the  low-lying  ground  near 
the  Danube.  Next  morning  the  great  gun  was 
taken   to   pieces.      One   half   of   the   immense 


232         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

engine  of  destruction  was  slung  on  big  hooks  on 
a  frame  made  for  the  purpose.  It  looked  like 
a  great  hollow  cradle  that  would  have  provided 
sleeping  accommodation  for  a  couple  of  men 
as  it  swirled  and  rocked  when  the  train  took  a 
steep  gradient.  "  Why  have  they  brought  out 
their  big  guns,  which  are  so  difficult  to  transport 
on  the  steep  gradients  in  this  mountainous 
country,  if  they  do  not  mean  business?" 
"  Merely  to  frighten  Servia  and  cow  her  into 
submission."  "  Then  why  is  everything  being 
done  so  secretly?"  "Merely  to  heighten  the 
effect,"  was  the  reply.  Foreign  diplomacy  was 
not  so  blind,  but  it  sat  tight,  and  refused  to  give 
any  opinion. 

The  State  controls  the  railways  in  Austro- 
Hungary,  excepting  for  one  or  two  lines.  The 
great  termini  in  Vienna  lie  at  different  ends  of 
the  city.  Ordinary  passengers  had  to  cross  the 
town  in  cabs.  The  Orient  express,  however, 
was  allowed  to  make  use  of  the  military  com- 
munication railway  to  save  time.  This  circular 
railway  joined  up  all  the  big  junctions.  It  had 
been  constructed  for  purely  military  purposes 
to  pass  troops  and  munitions  from  one  station 
to  the  other  quickly  and  secretly.  In  solitary 
places,  sidings,  with  an  iron  pontoon  for  heavy 
guns,   and   perhaps   an   immense   crane,   stood 


DIPLOMATIC    METHODS  233 

moss-grown  and  idle.  They  were  ready  against 
the  great  day  when  Austria  would  go  to  war. 
The  chief  preparations  were  made  in  the  Prater, 
an  Imperial  park  that  had  been  thrown  open  to 
the  public  many  years  before.  In  the  waste 
swamp-land  behind  the  park,  which  stretched 
down  to  the  main  stream  of  the  Danube,  there 
were  cranes  used  for  unloading  barges  that 
came  up  the  river  from  the  Balkans,  and  that 
also  served  for  the  mobilisation.  Just  beyond 
this  ground  there  was  a  caf^  much  frequented 
by  the  diplomatists  of  Vienna.  Close  by  was 
the  British  Golf  Club..  The  cafe  had,  no  doubt, 
come  into  fashion  because  the  chiefs  of  the 
Diplomatic  Service  in  Austria  congregated  there 
to  meet  military  men,  who  took  their  morning 
ride,  where  they  could  supervise  the  training  of 
recruits,  in  the  waste  land  beyond.  But  the 
position  of  the  golf  ground  needed  explanation. 
Who  had  chosen  to  plump  the  course  right  in 
the  midst  of  the  probable  scene  of  any  military 
preparation  ? 

No  answer  will  ever  be  made  to  this  question. 
The  British  diplomatist,  when  he  has  a  streak 
of  Celtic  blood  in  his  make-up,  is  undoubtedly 
the  finest  in  the  world.  He  has  the  great  gift 
of  silence.  Other  men  of  great  repute  and  long 
training  always  envy  the  Englishman  his  im- 


234  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

perturbable  face,  which  serves  him  as  a  com- 
plete mask.  Nothing  provokes  him  into  a  dis- 
play of  emotion ;  his  habitual  calm  prevents  the 
enemy  ever  surprising  him  into  a  betrayal  of 
his  country's  secrets  by  a  smile  or  a  grimace. 
This  is  a  unique  gift.  The  secret  police  in  every 
city  of  Europe  will  tell  you  that  there  is  no 
catching  an  Englishman  off  his  guard.  His 
news  is  always  sound.  He  does  not  care  for 
information  from  doubtful  sources ;  he  mis- 
doubts the  foreigner  and  all  his  ways.  He 
takes  endless  trouble  in  following  up  clues,  but 
will  not  venture  to  draw  conclusions.  He  is 
careful  never  to  compromise  himself  by  em- 
ploying unworthy  tools,  and  is  never  in 
"  trouble "  with  the  authorities  or  under  sus- 
picion like  other  diplomatists. 

Unfortunately,  there  are  always  too  few  of 
him.  He  is  hampered  by  having  no  residents 
in  the  British  colony  that  he  can  consult.  The 
first  years  of  a  diplomatist's  life  in  a  foreign 
country  are  occupied  in  learning  the  lie  of  the 
land.  Until  he  is  acquainted  with  the  rudi- 
ments of  the  language  and  the  significance  of 
the  utterances  of  the  different  papers,  he  can 
do  no  useful  work. 

The  German  diplomatist,  a  man  without  a 
vestige   of   imagination,   ignorant   of   the   very 


DIPLOMATIC   METHODS  235 

first  rules  of  diplomacy,  unaware  of  the  meaning 
of  delicacy  in  his  conduct  as  the  guest  of  a 
foreign  monarch,  nevertheless  frequently  con- 
trives to  defeat  his  opponents.  Why  is  this? 
How  is  it  done?  The  German  would  be  in- 
capable of  producing  the  results  that  he  has 
been  able  to  show  were  it  not  for  the  powerful 
"hand  behind  the  throne."  Diplomatists  at  a 
Court  like  Vienna  must  be  noblemen,  and  it 
is  a  matter  of  general  knowledge  that  German 
aristocrats  are  not  astute  as  a  general  rule. 
They  have  no  conception  of  anything  beyond  the 
obvious.  Hints  and  allusions  are  quite  thrown 
away  upon  them.  Now  a  diplomatist  must  be 
a  man  of  very  delicate  perceptions.  It  may  be 
safely  said  that  such  a  thing  does  not  exist  in 
Germany.  The  Prussian  especially  is  very 
obtuse.  The  Germans  possess  one  great  virtue. 
They  are  aware  of  their  deficiencies.  The 
diplomatist,  who  feels  he  is  lacking  in  all  the 
essential  qualities  of  a  politician,  takes  a 
partner — a  very  active  partner,  who  is  never 
seen  or  heard,  but,  none  the  less,  is  respon- 
sible for  much  of  the  work.  He  is  a  Jew, 
who  manages  the  whole  organisation  of  the 
work.  He  finances  the  diplomatist.  German 
diplomatists  are  not  paid  much  in  proportion 
to  the  show  that  they  are  expected  to  make. 


236         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

Everything  is  "  solid,"  but  nothing  more. 
The  Government,  however,  authorises  an 
almost  unlimited  expenses  account.  This 
money  is  not  squandered.  Much  is  spent  in  the 
form  of  tips  to  persons  who  may  be  of  use. 
No  other  diplomatist  could  venture  to  pay 
small  sums  of  money  to  all  sorts  of  doubtful 
persons  in  the  first  years  of  his  residence  at  a 
foreign  Court.  Such  persons  might  be,  and 
probably  are,  spies  of  the  Government,  or 
members  of  the  secret  police.  The  German 
diplomatist  is  not  troubled  with  these  doubts. 
On  entering  his  embassy  he  finds  a  record  of 
all  the  work,  clean  and  unclean,  done  by  his 
predecessors,  and  the  financial  man,  who  has 
been  in  the  post  for  years,  in  charge.  Every 
successful  means  of  getting  information  is  sug- 
gested to  him.  He  thus  gets  the  benefit  of  the 
experience  of  his  predecessors,  avoids  their 
mistakes,  and  improves  on  their  methods,  as 
every  new  man  can.  No  German  nobleman 
could  carry  on  this  business  unaided.  The  Jew 
is  a  man  of  business,  far  excellence.  His  prin- 
ciple is,  "  Never  take  anything  without  paying 
for  it."  He  not  only  pays  for  any  little  service 
rendered,  delicately  considering  the  feelings  of 
the  recipient,  and  where  gold  would  give 
offence  he  sees  that  an  order,  or,  perhaps,  a 


DIPLOMATIC   METHODS  237 

much-coveted  title  is  bestowed,  but  he  always 
makes  sure  that  the  recipient  is  satisfied.  A 
Jew,  concerned  in  statecraft,  will  never  allow  a 
tool,  however  humble,  to  go  away  discontented, 
for  if  he  did  he  would  have  made  him  a  danger- 
ous enemy,  instead  of  a  grateful  servant. 

A  young  diplomatist  starting  for  the  Balkans 
will  carry  a  set  of  instructions  which  regulate 
his  every  act  in  everyday  life.      "  Put  up  at 

the  Hotel."       "Give  the  waiter  at  the 

restaurant  a  big  tip  .  .  .  not  sufficient  to 

excite  suspicion,  but  enough  to  render  him 
communicative."     "  Find  means  of  getting  to 

know  the   big   German   manufacturer   at  

without  being  se.en  with  him  too  much."  "  Cul- 
tivate the  men  connected  with  travel  bureaux  as 
much  as  possible  without  compromising  your 
position."  Imagine  a  young  Englishman  told 
off  to  cultivate  men  behind  a  counter  !  But  the 
proud  German  will  make  any  sacrifice,  will- 
ingly, and,  indeed,  counts  it  no  loss,  for  he  is 
never  a  snob.  Snobbism  is  unknown  in  either 
Germany  or  Austria-Hungary.  Diplomatists 
are  always  born  within  the  magic  circle.  They 
are  always  men  belonging  to  families  admitted 
to  Court  functions.  This  means  an  ancient 
family.  Persons  outside  this  circle  are  not  re- 
garded as  equals.     Far  from  it.     They  are  so 


238         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

far  removed  from  the  nobility  that  they  are 
looked  upon  as  people  of  different  flesh  and 
blood.  The  German  aristocrat  thinks  of  the 
commoner  somewhat  as  the  Spaniard  of  the 
Southern  States  regards  a  nigger.  But  just 
because  he  condescends,  he  is  very  polite.  The 
poor  commoner  must  not  guess  his  feelings. 
He  can  treat  him  as  a  friend  and  a  brother 
without  any  risk  of  suffering  loss  of  caste  in 
the  eyes  of  his  peers.  Where  comparison  is 
impossible  there  is  no  fear  of  his  losing  rank  by 
associating  with  men  of  a  different  mould. 

The  young  Englishman  might  speak  in  the 
street  to  a  prominent  fellow-countryman  en- 
gaged in  trade.  Never,  however,  would  he  con- 
descend to  sit  down  at  one  table  with  his  vulgar 
wife,  and  thus  make  a  willing  slave  of  him  for 
ever.  The  Jew,  watching  the  steps  of  the  new 
diplomatists,  is  very  careful  to  ascertain  that 
any  favour  conferred  will  be  accepted  with 
gratitude,  otherwise  it  is  never  offered. 

The  German  diplomatist  always  speaks  a 
number  of  languages,  sometimes  with  a  slight 
accent,  sometimes  like  a  native.  He  learnt  them 
in  the  nursery.  The  British  diplomatist  usually 
speaks  the  language  of  the  country  to  which  he 
is  accredited  more  or  less  fluently,  but  he 
seldom  knows  a  second  language.     French  is 


DIPLOMATIC    METHODS  239 

the  language  of  the  Balkans.  But  the  variety 
spoken  is  very  unlike  pure  Parisian.  It  is  only 
possible  to  converse  with  Albanian  princes, 
Turkish  pashas,  Rumanians,  and  other  people 
from  the  south  if  one's  knowledge  of  French  is 
very  exact.  Fluency  in  French  makes  inter- 
course with  Italians  and  Russians  easy,  as  they 
all  speak  it.  A  man  who  has  business  in  the 
South  or  in  the  Tyrol  should  also  speak  Italian. 
The  people  there  know  German  as  well  as 
Italian,  but  dislike  speaking  it.  They  feel  mis- 
trust towards  anyone  who  uses  the  tongue  of 
the  oppressor.  Besides  they  do  not  care  to 
discuss  politics  or  give  information  of  any  kind 
in  a  language  that  every  spy  or  would-be  spy 
within  hearing  can  understand.  No  commer- 
cial traveller  would  start  off  without  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  languages  prevalent  in  the 
country  in  which  he  was  to  do  business,  but 
there  is  a  great  laxity  of  views  in  regard  to  the 
standard  of  linguistic  talent  required  in  the 
diplomatist. 

The  members  of  Embassies  and  Legations  of 
the  British  Empire  are,  for  the  most  part,  purely 
British.  Any  strain  of  foreign  blood  impairs 
their  usefulness  to  such  an  extent  that  this  is 
well.  The  foreign  politicians  who  deal  with 
members  of   the    Diplomatic   Corps    naturally 


240         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

mistrust  any  half-breeds,  as  they  call  them. 
They  prefer  to  have  to  deal  with  a  prospective 
enemy  who  declares  his  feelings  openly,  rather 
than  to  be  obliged  to  negotiate  with  the  son  of 
a  German  mother,  who  may  be  secretly  inclined 
to  favour  his  mother's  race  and  make  conces- 
sions that  will  not  be  ratified  by  the  home 
Government. 

If  the  British  Diplomatic  Service  is  unique 
in  its  special  line  because  it  is  homogeneous, 
the  men  being  all  of  the  same  type  as  their 
confreres  in  the  Home  Office  or  War  Office  at 
home,  the  same  cannot  be  said  for  the  Consular 
Service,  which,  especially  in  remote  parts  of 
Europe,  is  of  but  small  or  no  benefit  to  Britain, 
while  it  has  been  of  irnxmense  advantage  to  her 
rivals  in  trade.  In  cases  where  there  is  a 
genuine  Briton  at  the  head  of  affairs,  he 
naturally  takes  a  British  view  of  all  disputes 
that  come  along  and  form  his  daily  work.  But 
he  is  a  startling  exception.  Most  of  the  men 
in  the  Consular  Service  were  Germans  or 
natives;  they  gave  their  services  for  nothing, 
saying  that  the  title  lent  them  importance.  It 
did.  It  enabled  them  to  interfere  in  the  thou- 
sand and  one  difficulties  that  are  always  arising 
between  shippers  and  the  Government — their 
own  Government — and  to  place  the  British  case 


DIPLOMATIC   METHODS  241 

in  a  bad  light.  The  shipper,  not  knowing  the 
language,  was  quite  helpless,  and  went  back 
home  the  poorer  in  cash  and  disheartened.  His 
owners  were  annoyed,  and  decided  that  they 
would  cease  to  carry  on  dealings  with  the 
country  in  question.  A  German  firm  was  quite 
ready  to  rush  in  to  benefit  by  the  facts  which 
the  consul  had  carefully  ascertained  during  the 
negotiations,  and  snap  up  the  trade.  The  Ger- 
man consul  usually  gave  away  large  sums  of 
money  among  the  indigent  in  the  British  colony, 
and  thus  placed  himself  in  a  position  that  was 
very  difficult  to  assail.  If  any  powerful  resi- 
dent felt  that  the  consul  was  not  acting  alto- 
gether in  British  interests,  the  latest  subscrip- 
tion, probably  a  princely  donation  to  some 
British  charity,  caused  him  to  revise  his  hasty 
judgment.  A  man  so  truly  charitable  could  not 
be  guilty  of  meannesses  such  as  he  had  sus- 
pected. He  did  not  realise  that  the  consul  put 
the  thumping  big  subscription  down  in  his 
expenses  account,  entered  as  "  Money  to  blind 
British  residents."  The  British  merchant 
prince,  perhaps,  did  not  care  to  assist  some 
poor  countryman;  he  left  it  to  the  consul,  who 
took  the  money  ostensibly  from  his  own  pocket, 
and  the  Englishman,  ashamed  at  his  niggardli- 
ness, felt  that  his  mouth  was  effectually  shut, 

R 


242         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

even  when  he  was  more  than  doubtful  about 
some  action  taken  with  regard  to  his  country's 
interests.  These  things  happened  in  many 
places,  and  led  British  subjects  living  abroad 
to  regard  justice  and  law  as  non-existent  so  far  as 
they  were  concerned.  They  were  forced  to  have 
resort  to  all  kinds  of  subterfuges  to  obtain  the 
most  elementary  rights.  They  avoided  litiga- 
tion at  any  cost,  for  they  knew  that  with  a  Ger- 
man consul  it  could  only  go  against  them.  Old 
residents  who  knew  the  language  and  customs 
of  the  country  were  able  to  carry  on  business 
even  in  the  German  strongholds,  for,  after  all, 
the  Englishman  is  the  best  business  man  in  the 
world.  But  they  had  to  work  at  a  disadvantage. 
Germans  stood  ready  to  take  up  the  trade  should 
the  creator  of  the  connection  be  ill  or  die.  And 
the  resident  consul  was  always  ready  to  replace 
the  Englishman  by  his  own  man. 

In  places  where  there  was  a  British  consul 
all  this  was  different.  The  authorities,  feeling 
that  a  strong  hand  would  protect  British 
subjects,  hesitated  to  attack  any  one  of  them 
without  due  cause.  In  these  cities  the  British 
subject  enjoyed  the  same  immunity  from  un- 
warranted interference  as  the  Italian.  The 
Italian  consul,  at  the  cost  of  much  inconveni- 
ence and  annoyance  to  himself,  would  stand  by 


DIPLOMATIC   METHODS  243 

a  fellow-citizen  until  he  obtained  his  rights.  The 
authorities,  knowing  this,  were  frightened  to 
interfere  with  any  man  who  was  carrying  on  a 
legitimate  business.  The  Italian  consul  knew 
that  he  had  his  Government  behind  him  in 
protecting  Italian  trade,  and  that  his  mission 
was  to  carry  on  warfare  with  the  German; 
nor  did  he  scruple  to  use  the  same 
weapons  as  his  adversary.  He  was  even 
capable  of  going  one  better.  Perhaps  of  all 
the  peoples  of  Europe  the  Italian  alone  under- 
stands the  peculiar  character  of  the  German — 
an  experience  that  has  been  bought  at  the  price 
of  much  suffering.  He  knows  that  it  is  fatal 
to  wait  until  the  German  takes  the  offensive. 
The  blow  must  come  from  the  other  side. 
Then  the  German's  indolence  will  make  him 
careful  of  provoking  an  adversary  of  this  calibre 
a  second  time.  The  Prussian  is  essentially  a 
bully;  he  can  only  be  brought  to  reason  by  a 
frontal  attack,  and  those  who  know  him  will 
not  hesitate  to  make  it  with  or  without  excuse, 
provided  they  get  in  the  first  blow,  for  the 
struggle  must  come  sooner  or  later. 


R    2 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

PUNITIVE    EXPEDITION   OR   WORLD-WAR? 

Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  hastened  on 
their  preparations.  Transports  of  munitions 
were  hurried  to  the  front.  The  building  of  the 
new  War  Ministry  in  Vienna,  which  had  long 
been  proceeding,  was  hurried  on.  The  Govern- 
ment did  not  care  to  go  to  war  with  all  the 
mobilisation  plans  lying  in  the  old  building.  It 
was  situated  in  a  crowded  part  of  the  city  close 
to  the  flower  market.  It  would  have  been  very 
easy  to  blow  up  the  entire  structure.  Many  of 
the  Slavs  within  the  Empire  would  not  have 
hesitated  to  use  their  opportunity  of  throwing 
everything  into  confusion.  The  new  War 
Office  on  the  Ringstrasse,  built  in  the  newest 
and  worst  style  of  architecture,  was  easily 
guarded. 

The  German  preparations  were  on  a  much 
vaster  scale  than  those  made  in  Austria-Hun- 


PUNITIVE  EXPEDITION  OR  WORLD-WAR?  245 

gary.  Germany  was  preparing  for  a  world-' 
war,  Austria-Hungary  for  a  punitive  expedition 
against  Servia.  Austria  has  always  been 
solicitous  of  the  good  opinion  of  other  coun- 
tries. She  now  sent  out  batches  of  official 
despatches  intended  to  incriminate  Servia  in 
the  eyes  of  Europe.  Germany,  who  cared  little 
upon  what  pretext  she  began  the  Great  War, 
and  knew  that  she  must  earn  hatred  for  herself 
throughout  the  civilised  world,  did  nothing  to 
prepare  the  world.  She  knew  that  it  was  a 
general  war,  Why  waste  time  and  efforts  in 
justifying  Germany's  right  to  be  "iiber  alles"? 
Conquerors  of  the  world  do  not  stop  to  explain 
their  methods. 

As  the  weeks  went  by  Austria-Hungary 
began  to  weaken  in  her  resolve.  German 
diplomatists  noticed  the  hesitation.  They  sug- 
gested that  a  stiff  Note  should  be  sent  to 
Servia.  When  the  text  of  the  famous  Note 
appeared,  it  was  noticed  that  the  phraseology 
was  not  Austrian.  It  was  not  couched  in  the 
soft  language — a  sort  of  modified  German — 
spoken  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  but  in  the 
rude  terms  heard  farther  north.  Everyone  said 
that  the  text  of  the  Note  had  been  written  in 
Berlin.  It  is  just  possible  that  Count  Tisza 
had  been  a  party  to  it.     He  kept  up  constant 


246         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

intercourse  with  Berlin,  and  may  have  visited 
the  Emperor  or  been  consulted  over  the  tele- 
phone. The  intention  of  the  Note  was  clear. 
No  State  with  any  claim  to  sovereign  rights 
could  accept  it.  Austria-Hungary  demanded 
the  right  to  send  her  own  police  to  Servia  to 
investigate  the  crime  of  Sarajevo,  although  it 
had  been  committed  on  Austrian  ground  by 
Austrian  subjects.  No  Serb  was  implicated. 
The  Austrian  Government  was  unable  to  bring- 
any  proofs  of  Servian  complicity  beyond  vague 
assertions  that  the  assassin  had  received  in- 
struction in  military  exercises  in  the  ranks  of  a 
volunteer  corps  in  Lelgrade.  Austria  relied 
upon  the  strength  of  unproven  assertions  to 
establish  an  absolutely  untenable  case.  The 
Note  was  not  only  couched  in  the  most  insulting 
terms ;  it  demanded  an  answer  within  forty- 
eight  hours.  During  those  forty-eight  hours 
strong  diplomatic  pressure  was  brought  to  bear 
upon  Servia.  She  finally  consented  to  eat 
humble  pie.  She  was  willing  to  do  this  in 
spite  of  her  recent  conquests.  She  had  van- 
quished Bulgaria  and  had  added  considerably 
to  the  extent  of  her  territory.  Russia  fully 
appreciated  her  position.  It  was  difficult  for 
any  Government  to  accept  the  terms  of  such  a 
Note,  for  the  people  could  not  be  expected  to 


PUNITIVE  EXPEDITION  OR  WORLD- WAR?  247 

understand  the  political  necessity.  Neverthe- 
less, at  four  o'clock  on  the  fatal  Saturday,  news 
was  received  from  Belgrade  that  Servia  had 
resolved  to  submit.  Her  diplomatists  said  that 
she  had  no  choice.  Her  army  was  exhausted. 
Her  stock  of  munitions  was  low.  She  needed 
all  her  available  funds  to  carry  on  the  work  of 
reconstruction  of  the  devastated  country.  The 
Albanians,  in  the  newly  acquired  regions,  were 
giving  continual  trouble.  They  descended 
from  their  mountains  and  stole  cattle  from  the 
Serbs.  Expeditions  had  been  sent  against 
them,  but,  as  the  Serbs  said,  the  Albanians  had 
been  accustomed  from  time  immemorial  to 
make  an  annual  descent  into  the  plains  for  the 
purpose  of  re-victualling,  and  the  fact  that  the 
land  where  their  depredations  were  made  be- 
longed to  Servia  instead  of  being  a  part  of  the 
decrepit  Turkish  Empire  made  no  difference. 
Many  of  the  Albanians  hardly  knew  of  the 
change  of  government.  They  needed  cattle 
and  corn,  and  naturally  made  raids  to  get  it. 
Servia,  however,  was  forced  to  keep  an  army  on 
the  frontier  because  of  them. 

These  considerations,  and  the  pressure 
brought  to  bear  by  the  Russian  Ambassador, 
rendered  Servia  willing  to  consent  to  any  terms. 

Russia  stood  by  her  small  ally,  and  sent  out 


248         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

an  official  warning  that  she  could  "  not  remain 
indifferent  to  Servia's  fate."  This  softened  the 
natural  chagrin  felt  by  the  small  State  in  yield- 
ing to  Austria.  Servia's  answer  was  a  soft  reply 
to  a  rough  question.  She  accepted  most  of  the 
cruel  conditions  imposed  upon  her,  but  desired 
to  refer  one  point  to  a  Hague  Convention. 
Everyone  in  Austria  considered  the  answer 
sufficient.  The  news  circulated  in  Vienna  that 
the  crisis  was  over.  An  emissary  from  the 
Vatican,  who  had  been  working  hard  for  peace, 
spread  the  joyful  news  through  the  city.  His 
face  shone  with  satisfaction  as  he  passed  from 
group  to  group  in  the  waiting  crowd.  "  It  was  a 
near  thing,"  he  said,  "  but  the  Serbs  are  well 
advised  to  give  in." 

Big  financiers  breathed  again,  and  some  of 
the  newspapers  began  printing  extra  editions. 
The  editions  were  mere  sheets  of  paper,  dis- 
tributed gratis,  as  newspapers  may  not  be 
hawked  in  the  streets  in  Austria.  They  quoted 
an  article  in  the  Servian  official  paper,  saying 
that  Servia  was  willing  to  give  in  to  the 
demands. 

Time  went  on ;  such  information  as  could  be 
obtained  from  persons  connected  with  foreign 
diplomatic  circles  confirmed  the  news  of  peace. 

As  evening  set  in  the  news  was  received  that 


PUNITIVE  EXPEDITION  OR  WORLD-WAR?  249 

the  official  answer  from  Servia  had  come.  It 
was  quite  satisfactory.  The  Austrian  Govern- 
ment had  never  thought  of  Servia's  making 
such  complete  surren"der.  Many  people  started 
off  for  week-ends  in  the  country,  sure  that  the 
communique  that  would  be  issued  by  the 
Vienna  Foreign  Office  that  night  would  be 
merely  an  elaboration  of  the  news  already 
spread  throughout  the  city. 

The  Vienna  Bourse,  which  had  been  falling 
slowly  and  steadily  ever  since  the  assassina- 
tion of  the  Archduke,  had  reached  its  lowest 
point  that  morning.  Servia's  answer  had 
reached  Vienna  in  time  to  effect  a  lightning 
improvement,  and  prices  were  better  than  they 
had  been  since  the  beginning  of  the  crisis. 
Thus  there  resulted  the  remarkable  pheno- 
menon that  prices  were  steady  and  firm  on  the 
very  day  that  a  world-war  was  decided.  The 
Bourse  was  closed  for  many  months  after 
the  fatal  Saturday,  the  official  closing  prices 
remaining  a  remarkable  testimony  to  the  nar- 
rowness of  the  margin  between  war  and  peace. 
While  the  great  financiers  played  on  a  peace 
basis,  others  waited.  Why  was  the  communique 
not  issued  ?  Was  there  a  hitch  ?  It  was  known 
that  Count  Berchtold,  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Minister,  had  telephoned  to  Berlin.    He  wished 


250         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

to  consult  with  the  Kaiser  before  accepting  the 
reply  as  sufficient.  The  German  Government 
said  it  was  too  late  to  retreat;  Servia's  answer 
must  not  be  accepted,  and  counselled  Berchtold 
to  recall  the  Austro-Hungarian  Minister  at  Bel- 
grade. Count  Berchtold  followed  Germany's 
advice ;  the  news  became  known  in  Vienna  very 
quickly.  Extra  editions  were  distributed,  say- 
ing that  the  Minister  had  left  Belgrade  and 
that  diplomatic  relations  with  Servia  were 
broken  off.  Austrian  officials  let  it  be  known 
that  no  declaration  of  war  would  be  made,  and 
that  a  Great  Power  would  not  parley  with 
Servia.  Gunboats  had  already  started  down 
the  Danube  to  bombard  Belgrade.  Austria 
considered  that  a  small  force  would  be  sufficient 
to  subjugate  Servia,  and  in  the  city  people 
spoke  of  the  promenade  into  Belgrade.  This 
news  was  circulated  to  make  any  subsequent 
retreat  or  withdrawal  impossible. 

No  one  thought  of  a  great  war  that  night,  for 
the  news  that  Russia  intended  to  stand  by 
Servia  had  been  carefully  kept  back. 

Count  Berchtold,  having  committed  the 
Government  to  war,  had  a  difficult  task  before 
him.  It  was  very  doubtful  whether  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  sign 
the  order  for  a  general  mobilisation.     Large 


PUNITIVE  EXPEDITIOiN  OR  WORLD-WAR?  251 

bodies  of  troops  had  already  left  for  both  the 
Servian  and  Russian  fronts,  but  no  general 
mobilisation  could  take  place  without  an  order 
signed  by  the  Emperor.  The  aged  monarch 
was  anxious  that  Servia  should  be  chastised. 
But  he  did  not  wish  to  risk  a  world-war.  He 
was  afraid  of  Russia,  with  her  immense  re- 
sources both  in  men  and  material.  It  was  now 
that  the  long  years  of  work  accomplished  by 
German  diplomacy  in  Vienna  bore  fruit. 

Tchirsky,  the  German  Ambassador,  visited 
Count  Berchtold.  He  showed  him  that  Austria 
must  go  to  war  or  lose  her  position  as  a  Great 
Power  in  Europe.  There  would  be  a  world- 
war,  but  it  must  come.  Germany  intended  to  go 
to  Paris  and  St.  Petersburg.  This  was  an  op- 
portunity such  as  might  never  come  again.  It 
was  only  the  question  of  dealing  with  the  old 
Emperor.  If  he  knew  the  truth,  he  would  never 
sign  the  mobilisation  order.  Why  should  he 
be  consulted?  He  did  not  know  of  the  Russian 
Note.  Why  not  keep  it  back  until  the  irrevoc- 
able decision  had  been  taken  ? 

Berchtold  listened  to  the  voice  of  the  tempter 
and  fell.  He  informed  the  Emperor  that 
Europe  would  look  on  with  folded  hands  while 
Servia  was  chastised  for  the  assassination  of  the 
Archduke.     This  seemed  very  natural  to  the 


252         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

old  autocrat.  He  was  In  residence  at  Ischl,  as 
usual  in  summer-time,  and  had  no  opportunity 
of  conversing  with  anyone  who  could  have  told 
him  the  truth  about  Russia. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  Berchtold  was  fully 
aware  of  the  magnitude  of  the  decision  he  had 
taken  upon  himself.  He  was  fully  aware  that 
he  was  deceiving  the  Emperor,  and  excused  his 
conduct  by  his  conviction  that  the  ruler  was  no 
longer  capable  of  judging  what  was  best  for 
the  country.  He  had  been  attacked  by  the 
Vienna  Press  for  years.  He  was  accused  of 
feebleness  and  weakness  by  Count  Tchirsky's 
organs ;  now  he  would  show  strength  and  resolu- 
tion. As  often  happens  with  weak  men,  he 
showed  it  at  the  wrong  time. 

When  the  news  of  war  was  announced  in 
Vienna,  the  crowd  immediately  started  for  the 
Servian  Legation.  The  Serbs,  with  great 
astuteness,  had  always  chosen  a  legation  that 
could  not  be  looted  or  even  damaged  without 
the  rest  of  the  house  being  pulled  down.  They 
always  took  the  quiet  apartments  at  the  back 
of  one  of  the  immense  barrack-like  houses  that 
line  the  great  streets  in  Vienna.  Demonstra- 
tions had  been  made  frequently  in  front  of  the 
Legation  during  the  last  few  weeks,  and  the 
crowd  reached  the  street  to  find  it  blocked  by 
troops.     It  then  turned  towards  the  Embassy 


PUNITIVE  EXPEDITION  OR  WORLD-WAR?  253 

quarter.  The  Vienna  police  were  well  pre- 
pared. Several  regiments  of  soldiers  had  been 
called  out  to  assist  them,  and  the  Embassies 
being  for  the  most  part  close  together,  it  was 
easy  to  guard  them.  None  the  less,  it  was  a 
stirring  night.  The  procession  divided  into  two 
streams.  One  went  to  the  French  Embassy, 
the  other  turned  its  steps  towards  the  Russian 
and  British  Embassies.  Neither  Germany  nor 
Austria-Hungary  imagined  for  an  instant  that 
England  would  take  part  in  the  fight.  They 
were  convinced  that  she  would  consider  it  to 
her  interest  to  remain  neutral.  The  crowd, 
however,  with  a  correct  instinct,  regarded  Eng- 
land as  an  enemy.  Three  times  the  roughs 
broke  through  the  cordon  of  guards  and  rushed 
upon  the  Embassy  buildings,  but  were  turned 
back  by  the  military.  Those  in  command  had 
received  very  definite  orders.  The  Embassies 
were  to  be  protected  at  all  costs.  Later  on  the 
crowd  wreaked  its  fury  upon  shops  owned  by 
Serbs.  They  were  gutted  in  a  few  minutes,  and 
no  one  interfered.  The  police  even  stood  by 
and  admired  the  good  work.  Serbs  and  Rus- 
sians were  maltreated  in  the  streets.  Terrible 
incidents  occurred.  The  police  were  to  blame, 
for  it  would  have  been  easy  to  interfere.  Just 
as   they   had    allowed    the    Mohammedans    to 


254         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

plunder  the  Serbs  and  appropriate  their  belong- 
ings at  Sarajevo  after  the  assassination,  so  they 
permitted  the  same  thing  to  be  done  in  Vienna. 
A  spirit  was  roused  that  will  not  be  easy  to 
quell.  The  bloodthirstiness  of  the  mob  is  easily 
excited,  but  calming  it  is  another  matter,  as  the 
old  despots  in  France  learned  to  their  cost. 
The  latent  quality  of  cruelty,  which  is  hidden 
beneath  the  more  obvious  characteristics  of  the 
Viennese,  was  seen  at  its  worst.  Good-tempered 
toleration  gave  way  to  bestiality.  That  spirit 
of  fair-play  which  habitually  animates  an  Aus- 
trian crowd  was  replaced  by  a  desire  for  other 
people's  belongings.  The  truce  between  the 
members  of  the  various  races,  kept  for  half  a 
century,  was  over.  German  and  Slav  were  at 
war.  Racial  hate  flamed  up.  Passions  that  will 
take  long  to  cool  were  excited.  The  great  and 
tremendous  struggle  between  the  two  great  pre- 
dominating races  in  Eastern  Europe,  the  Ger- 
mans and  the  Slavs,  had  begun. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

WHAT  WOULD  ENGLAND  SAY? 

Next  morning  the  jubilant  feeling  that  had 
pervaded  Vienna  the  night  before  was  totally 
gone.  A  reaction  had  set  in.  Everyone  realised 
that  the  war  was  not  to  be  a  punitive  expedi- 
tion. It  was  a  world-war.  The  telegram  sent 
by  Russia  was  published  to  the  world,  and  Aus- 
tria waited  with  ill-concealed  anxiety  to  know 
what  England  intended  to  do.  Germany  was 
convinced  of  England's  neutrality;  she  was 
certain  that  Italy  meant  to  go  in  with  the  two 
mighty  Powers  that  were  to  sweep  the  Euro- 
pean chessboard  with  their  mighty  armies. 
Austria-Hungary  was  not  so  confident  as  Ger- 
many. She  knew  that  Italy  was  a  most  uncer- 
tain factor.  With  dfplomatic  cunning  she  had 
concealed  what  she  knew  of  Italy's  intentions 
from  her  ally.  She  had  feared  that  Germany 
might  not  back  her  if  she  knew  that  the  two 


256         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

Central  Empires  would  be  forced  to  stand 
alone.  The  Kaiser  had  always  said  that  he 
must  have  a  fleet  in  the  Mediterranean  at  call 
before  he  began  a  world-war.  If  Italy  stood 
by  him,  everything  was  easy.  Italy  now  de- 
clared her  neutrality.  The  Austrians  expected 
this,  and  worse ;  they  said  quite  freely,  "  Now 
that  Italy  has  the  chance,  she  will  turn  upon 
us."  Guilty  consciences  helped  them  to  realise 
the  truth.  They  had  oppressed  Italy  for  so 
long  that  they  never  even  expected  her  to  do 
anything  but  take  advantage  of  the  chance. 
Her  statesmen  were  pessimists.  They  could 
never  share  Kaiser  Wilhelm's  optimism.  They 
were  aware  that  Austria  had  played  the  part  of 
tyrant,  and  did  not  expect  gratitude.  Unaccus- 
tomed to  keep  treaties  themselves,  they  did  not 
expect  other  people  to  consider  them  as  binding 
when  a  chance  of  doing  better  presented  itself. 
Austria,  with  her  cynicism,  came  much  nearer 
the  truth  than  Germany,  who  oppressed  her 
Slav  subjects  and  then  expected  them  to  join 
in  the  song  of  "  Deutschland  liber  Alias  "  and 
to  love  the  Fatherland. 

The  Austrian  politician,  with  a  fineness  of 
perception  to  which  his  German  confrere  is  a 
stranger,  understood  that  England  wbuld  go 
in  with  her  allies.      Germany   argued,   "  It  is 


WHAT   WOULD   ENGLAND    SAY?     257 

Britain's  interest  to  remain  neutral,  to  capture 
the  whole  carrying-trade  of  Europe."  The 
Austrian  people  hoped  and  believed  that  they 
might  be  right,  but  her  politicians  had  a  con- 
viction that  Britain  would  not  fall  into  Ger- 
many's carefully-spread  toils.  The  Austrians 
also  suspected  that  Britain  knew  more  of  Ger- 
many's aims  than  she  acknowledged.  They 
always  complained  that  Britain  was  an  unknown 
factor.  No  statesman  laid  his  cards  on  the 
table  as  the  Germans  or  as  they  themselves  did. 

Yet,  having  no  cause  to  detest  Britain,  they 
naturally  understood  her  better  than  the  Ger- 
mans, who  were  blinded  by  the  bitterest  hate. 

Meanwhile,  European  diplomacy  was  loth  to 
believe  that  the  last  chance  of  peace  was  gone. 
Efforts  were  made  to  come  to  some  agreement. 
These  attempts  to  keep  a  peace  that  was  already 
so  seriously  compromised  were  only  forlorn 
hopes.  It  is  just  possible  that,  in  spite  of  every- 
thing, they  might  have  succeeded  had  it  not 
been  for  various  pieces  of  trickery.  Germany, 
whose  reputation  for  honesty  still  stood  high, 
did  not  hesitate  to  stop  important  telegrams 
which  were  on  their  way  to  Austria.  She  had 
made  such  costly  preparations  for  war  that  she 
considered  that  it  would  be  inadvisable  to  with- 
draw now.     Austria  was  allowed  no  chance  of 


258         SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

reconsidering  her  decision,  although  Germany- 
knew  that  it  had  been  made  upon  false  pre- 
mises. 

The  Viennese,  now  thoroughly  frightened  at 
the  future,  wished  ardently  for  peace.  The  war 
for  which  they  had  clamoured  turned  out  some- 
thing very  different  from  what  they  had  ex- 
pected. They  would  have  to  meet  enemies  on 
all  sides;  only  the  frontier  towards  Germany 
was  safe.  The  city  of  Vienna  was  hastily 
fortified.  It  was  no  use  taking  chances.  Huge 
mounds  were  thrown  up  on  the  immense  March 
plain  beyond  the  Danube,  where  many  battles 
had  been  fought  in  the  past.  Meanwhile,  the 
public  took  enormous  interest  in  the  negotia- 
tions which  were  still  being  carried  on.  Sir 
Edward  Grey  was  the  most  popular  man  in 
the  capital  for  several  days.  He  had  always 
succeeded  in  keeping  peace  before.  Would  he 
be  able  to  do  so  again  ?  The  reply  soon  came. 
Under  similar  circumstances  he  had  been  suc- 
cessful twice  before  because  Germany  was  not 
ready.  Now  she  had  finished  the  last  of  her 
preparations,  and  did  not  wish  for  compromise. 

When  the  news  came  that  Britain  was  to 
stand  by  Russia  and  France,  there  was  a  burst 
of  rage  throughout  the  country.  So  much  had 
been  hoped  from  her  neutrality.     "  The  Eng- 


WHAT   WOULD    ENGLAND    SAY?     259 

lish  were  shopkeepers.  Why  had  they  not  taken 
the  opportunity  that  fate  afforded  them  and 
become  rich  by  supplying  the  belligerents  with 
arms  and  provisions  ? "  asked  the  Austrians,  who 
now  said  that  Germany  had  deceived  them  with 
promises  of  Italian  help  and  British  indiffer- 
ence. 

The  British  living  in  populous  centres  felt 
the  sudden  change  of  temperature.  Instead  of 
being  the  most  popular  among  the  foreigners, 
they  were  suddenly  classed  with  the  Italians. 
who  were  the  most  detested.  This  change 
affected  people  in  various  ways.  Some  stood 
firm  and  were  merely  amused  at  the  sudden 
change;  other  Englishmen,  middle-class  gentle- 
men of  pure  race  who  had  lived  for  half  a  life- 
time in  Austria  and  Hungary,  were  hastily 
naturalised.  This  was  hardly  a  matter  for  sur- 
prise. They  knew  that  the  goods  of  British 
subjects  might  be  confiscated  and  their  money 
forfeited.  Having  worked  all  their  lives  for  a 
competency  which  they  wished  to  enjoy  in  their 
old  age,  they  were  naturally  loth  to  see  it  dis- 
appear before  their  eyes.  In  their  newly- 
acquired  zeal  for  Austria,  however,  they  could 
not  let  the  matter  rest  here.  They  wrote  to  the 
local  papers  saying  that  they  renounced  their 
country.      They    had    always    regretted    their 

S    2 


260         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

nationality  and  had  never  been  happy  under 
the  rule  of  their  rightful  King.  The  Austrians 
read  these  ebullitions  with  surprise.  They  said 
that  they  were  sorry  that  these  men  had  chosen 
to  join  their  nation  instead  of  another;  they  did 
not  want  such  skunks.  The  Government  then 
decided  to  ask  all  renegades  of  means  to  con- 
tribute handsomely  to  the  Red  Cross  funds. 
Those  who  wished  to  remain  in  the  country  of 
their  adoption  must  give  a  third  of  their  capital 
to  this  object.  The  newly-made  Austrians 
hurried  off  to  the  British  consul,  only  to  dis- 
cover that,  by  becoming  naturalised,  they  had 
forfeited  all  right  to  the  assistance  usually 
given  to  British  subjects. 

In  seaports  in  Austria  and  Hungary  other 
Englishmen  denounced  their  friends  and  acted 
as  spies  in  the  service  of  the  Austrian  Govern- 
ment. They  were  men  of  means.  Conduct 
that  might  be  condoned,  if  not  excused,  in 
members  of  the  poverty-stricken  international 
colony,  which  knows  no  country  and  floats  from 
capital  to  capital  in  search  of  a  bare  subsist- 
ence, was  regarded  as  detestable  in  men  of  pure 
Anglo-Saxon  nationality  without  the  slightest 
admixture  of  foreign  blood. 

The  women,  curiously  enough,  trusted  to  the 
Austrians  and  Hungarians  to  do  them  no  ill. 


WHAT   WOULD   ENGLAND    SAY?     261 

British  diplomatists,  fearing  for  the  younger 
women,  gave  their  last  ready  money  to  get  them 
out  before  the  declaration  of  war;  but  the  Eng- 
lish girls  were  not  impressed  with  the  necessity 
of  leaving.  They  were  convinced  that  Austria 
did  not  intend  to  imperil  her  chance  of  future 
negotiation  by  ill-treating  women  and  children. 

At  the  same  time  there  was  no  show  of  love 
for  the  enemy.  They  preferred  to  lose  all  they 
possessed  rather  than  to  attempt  to  become 
naturalised.  In  the  same  way  the  British  sports- 
men went  almost  to  a  man  to  concentration 
camps  rather  than  toady  to  the  enemy.  These 
men  were  born  in  Austria-Hungary  for  the  most 
part.  Many  came  of  families  that  were  virtually 
Austrian,  as  they  had  lived  generation  after 
generation  in  the  country.  Some  sporting  in- 
stinct had  prevented  their  grandfathers  from 
taking  out  naturalisation  papers.  The  same 
feeling  stopped  the  grandsons  from  any  truck- 
ling to  the  enemy. 

The  most  remarkable  result  of  the  war  was 
perhaps  the  stripping  off  of  all  pretences. 
P'^ople  who  had  always  posed  as  being  exces- 
sively rich  suddenly  confessed  themselves  to 
be  paupers  or  to  have  lived  beyond  their  means. 
Brave  men  became  cowards ;  and  people  whose 
courage  had  often  been  doubted  were  revealed 


262         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

as  creatures  of  the  old  bulldog  type.  The 
diplomatist  had  a  difficult  time.  The  consuls 
dealt  out  passports  by  the  hundred.  Some- 
times, with  a  dozen  girls  all  clamouring  for 
their  papers  at  once  and  literally  hanging  on 
to  their  coat-tails,  they  looked  more  like  stage- 
managers  surrounded  by  chorus  girls  than  any- 
thing else.  "  My  dear  ladies,  we  are  at  war," 
a  plaintive  voice  was  heard.  "  You  really  must 
put  down  the  age  you  look."  ..."  No,  I 
don't  doubt  your  word;  I  know  you  are  only 
twenty-four,  but  at  the  frontier  they  will  say  the 
passport  is  stolen.  .  .  .  Forty-five  now  .  .  . 
yes,  that  is  more  like  it."  "  No,  it  really  can't 
be  done.  .  .  As  I  told  the  lady  over  there, 
you  will  have  trouble  when  you  want  to  cross. 
.  .  .  We  know  you  have  had  a  wearing  life,  and 
are  really  much  younger  than  you  look  .  .  .  six 
children  does  take  it  out  of  one  .  .  .  yes,  yes 
.  .  .  fiftv-five  will  do." 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

Austria's  awakening 

"  Entrance  to  these  barracks  is  forbidden." 
Sentries  stood  there  to  enforce  the  new- 
regulation.  What  did  it  mean  ?  The  steady 
tramping  of  troops  had  been  heard  all  night. 
It  was  not  the  irregular  tread  of  Austrians  or 
Hungarians,  who  walk  rather  than  march.  The 
new  troops  kept  step;  they  moved  with  the 
precision  of  machinery.  In  a  wineshop  round 
the  corner  from  the  barracks  old  Viennese 
burghers  were  sitting,  and  although  it  was  only 
9  a.m.  they  were  taking  their  mid-morning 
lunch.  They  ate  their  rye  bread  and  salami, 
washed  down  by  white  wine  from  the  vineyards 
on  the  mountains  round  the  city,  which  rivalled 
champagne  in  taste.  Slowly  and  deliberately 
they  discussed  recent  events.  Prussian  troops 
had  come  on  in  the  night.  Vienna  was  under 
German  rule. 

3CS 


264         SEVEN   YEARS    IN   VIENNA 

The  Austrian  troops  were  being  hurried  to 
the  front.     Some  were  going  to  Galicia,  others 
towards   Servia,   and   a  third   lot  towards  the 
Italian  front.    "  No  one  knows  what  the  Italians 
may  do.  ...  If  only  we  had  kept  on  good 
terms  with  them,  we  could  face  the  Germans  to- 
day."    "  W^e   must   not   grumble.      It   was    a 
choice — either  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Ger- 
mans or  be   overwhelmed   with    Slavs."       "  I 
prefer  the  Germans,"  said  a  fair-haired  burgher. 
"  They  are  kinsmen  at  least."     *'  Not  the  Prus- 
sians.    You  don't  know  the  Prussians.     They 
are  the  last  word  in  unscrupulousness."    "  Clever* 
they  are,  but  without  any  of  the  finer  feelings. 
Save   us   from    the    Prussians,"    said   another. 
"  The  Slavs  will  prosper  in  spite  of  the  war." 
**  They  are  to  be   put  into   the   front  of  the 
battle."    "What  will  be  the  use  of  that?     It  is 
only  one  generation,  and  there  are  large  fami- 
lies of  children  at  home."     "  The  Slav  mothers 
will  bring  up  their  children  to  hate  us  for  this. 
We  shall  have  more  enemies  within  our  bor- 
ders."    "  The  German  children  will  die  from 
want  and  neglect.     Their  mothers  are  accus- 
tomed to  comfort,  even  to  luxury;   they  cannot 
till  the  fields  and  bring  in  the  crops.     But  the 
Slavs,  who  are  used  to  poverty  and  hardship,  will 
weather  the  storm."    "Yes,  you  are  right;  that 


AUSTRIA'S    AWAKENING  265 

is  all  we  shall  gain  from  this  war — a  Slavonic 
Austria-Hungary  overrun  by  Serbs  and  Croats, 
who  will  trade  with  our  Czechs."  "  God  save 
us  from  the  Prussians  !  "  That  was  heard  time 
and  time  again  as  the  Austrians  realised  that 
the  days  of  happy-go-lucky  drifting  were  over 
for  ever,  and  that  all  their  affairs  were  handed 
over  to  the  care  of  Prussians.  The  Austrian 
always  shows  great  delicacy  of  feeling.  He 
is  not  far  behind  the  Frenchman  in  this.  The 
German  does  not  know  the  significance  of  the 
word.  His  dealings  with  Austrian  officials,  who 
were  suddenly  superseded  by  Germans,  were 
on  the  mailed-fist  principle.  "  The  Prussian 
could  not  behave  decently,  even  if  he  tried  !  " 
"Trample  upon  the  weak;  fling  the  incapable 
into  the  street !  "  These  were  the  bitter  remarks 
heard  on  all  sides. 

The  most  imposing  but  saddest  sight  of  all 
during  the  mobilisation  was  the  arrival  of  the 
aged  Emperor  and  his  heir  in  Vienna.  The 
old  man,  seated  in  an  open  carriage,  although 
the  heat  was  intense,  stared  at  the  vacancy  in 
front  of  him.  His  lips  were  tightly  closed. 
His  heir,  a  stripling  who  looks  much  younger 
than  his  years,  looked  right  and  left.  The 
crowd  cheered  and  outdid  itself  in  its  expres- 
sions of  loyalty.    There  was  no  joy  in  the  voices 


266  SEVEN    YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

of  the  people,  but  a  lingering  tone  of  regret. 
"  Was  this  the  last  time  that  the  Emperor  would 
ride  by  in  state  ?  "  "  Was  his  place  to  be  taken 
by  another? " 

The  Vienna  crowd,  which  had  always  been 
sullen  and  refused  to  cheer  when  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm  passed  through  the  streets,  had  gauged 
events  with  perfect  justice.  The  old  man  and 
the  stripling — as  they  called  the  Archduke  Carl 
Francis  Joseph — were  totally  unfit  to  cope  with 
the  Kaiser.  The  Habsburgs  would  sink  into 
a  subordinate  position  and  be  nothing  more 
than  other  German  princes,  once  independent, 
who  had  sunk  into  subserviency  to  the  Prus- 
sians. The  people,  with  dim  eyes,  cheered 
again.  The  Emperor  had  always  been  popular. 
His  general  audiences,  where  he  received  all 
and  sundry  who  had  a  good  case  to  lay  before 
him,  his  personal  courage,  which  needed  no 
proof,  and  other  kingly  qualities,  always  en- 
deared him  to  the  crowd.  After  ordering  the 
execution  of  large  numbers  of  political  criminals 
in  the  days  of  his  youth  and  middle^  age,  he 
sought  to  compensate  for  this  in  his  old  age  by 
pardoning  many  criminals.  He  could  not  be 
induced  to  sign  a  death  sentence.  This  mercy 
shown  towards  men  who  richly  deserved  death 
for  their  many  crimes  made  him  popular.     The 


AUSTRIA'S    AWAKENING  267 

crowd  saw  no  discrepancy  in  the  acts  of  a  sove- 
reign who  would  slay  a  hundred  men  who  at- 
tempted to  gain  freedom  for  the  country  with- 
out scruple  in  his  youth,  and  in  fear  of  punish- 
ment after  death,  refused  to  permit  wrongdoers 
to  be  executed  as  the  time  of  his  passing  away 
grew  nearer.  They  failed  to  understand  the 
Emperor's  motive.  He  hoped  that  Heaven 
would  overlook  his  former  crimes  towards  the 
subject-peoples  if  he  could  show  a  contra- 
account  of  deeds  of  mercy. 

Archduke  Carl  Francis  Joseph  wore  an  im- 
perturbable expression.  No  one  could  fathom 
the  state  of  his  mind.  Was  he  merely  thinking 
of  his  own  private  affairs,  or  was  he  concerned 
for  the  fate  which  hung  over  Austria-Hungary  ? 
Who  shall  say?  Did  he  prefer  to  live  as  a 
ruler  without  responsibilities,  like  the  King  of 
Saxony,  to  the  toil  of  the  life  of  a  reigning 
monarch?  So  many  of  the  Habsburgs  have 
abdicated  when  the  responsibilities  of  a  throne 
have  descended  upon  them,  so  many  members 
of  the  Imperial  family  have  left  the  pomp  and 
splendour  of  the  Court  for  a  quiet  life  in  retire- 
ment, that  it  is  difficult  to  surmise  what  feelings 
filled  the  heart  of  the  young  man  as  he  looked 
forwards  to  Armageddon. 

The  Emperor's  feelings  were  plain.    He  had 


2G8         SEVEN   YEARS    IN    VIENNA 

always  said,  "  Apres  moi  le  deluge,"  but  he 
realised  that  the  deluge  would  not  wait  for  his 
death.  His  reign,  which  had  begun  to  the 
sound  of  battle  and  dire  defeat,  was  to  end  to 
the  death-song  of  the  Empire.  The  sceptre 
that  his  ancestors  had  confided  to  him  was 
slipping  from  his  grasp.  His  adversaries  had 
been  too  much  for  him.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  had 
used  methods  which  were  not  permitted  even 
to  politicians.  He  had  broken  faith  with  his 
ally.  The  Emperor,  the  keener  man  of  the 
two,  was  too  old,  and  had  not  suspected  the 
depths  of  falsity  under  the  mask  of  frank 
bonhomie.  Kaiser  Wilhelm  had  even  deceived 
the  Church,  always  the  adviser  and  comforter 
of  the  old  Emperor. 


PRINTED  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN   BY  R.   CLAY  AND  SONS,  LTD., 
BRUNSWICK  STRKV;T,  STAMFORD  STREET,   S.E.,  AND  BUNGAY,  SUFPOLK. 


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